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Osho on Expectations of a Meditator
Question:
After each camp, I am left deeply frustrated and
anxious, as if I have been waiting for something to happen that
never happens, and I say to myself: Heera, you are back in the
same boat again. Please comment.
Osho: Let me first tell you
one anecdote.
The newly-arrived convict was complaining to the warden, "I
don't like the food here, I don't like the quarters, and I don't
like your face."
"Well," said the warden, "is there anything else you don't
like?"
"That's all for the time being," said the convict. "I don't want
you to think that I am unreasonable.".
Heera, you are very unreasonable.
First, for hundreds and hundreds of lives you have never
meditated. Not to meditate has gone deep into your bones, into
your very heart -- it has become a hard pattern. Now, suddenly
you meditate and you start expecting too much. It is
unreasonable. In fact, all expectations are unreasonable, but
when one expects something out of meditation it is Absolutely
unreasonable. Because the very base of meditation, the very
foundation of meditation is to understand that expectation has
to be dropped; otherwise meditation never starts.
It is expectation that keeps your mind continuously spinning
thoughts. It is expectation that keeps you tense. It is
expectation, when not fulfilled, that makes you feel frustrated,
miserable. Drop expectation and meditation will flower, but it
can flower only when you are not expecting. You can go on
expecting for many lives; you will not allow meditation to
flower. That is not the way.
I have heard....
Lanahan's hair kept falling and he complained to his barber.
"That stuff you gave me," he cried "is terrible. You said two
bottles of it would make me hair grow, but nothing has
happened."
"I don't understand," said the barber, "that is the best hair
restorer made."
"Well," said Lanahan, "I don't mind drinking another bottle, but
it better work!"
Now, with expectation, doing meditation is like drinking a
bottle of hair restorer. It is not going to work. It can even be
destructive, it can be dangerous.
It is better not to meditate than to meditate with expectation,
because at least you will not suffer the frustration. Don't
meditate. But if you have decided to meditate, then be clear.
Meditation does not guarantee anything to you. Not that nothing
happens out of it; it happens, but there is no guarantee.
Tremendous possibilities open but you cannot expect them. If you
expect, doors remain dosed. It is your expectation that blocks
the way.
Two friends met on the street.
"I'm so unhappy I could cry," said the first.
"Why?"
"Two weeks ago, my uncle died and left me one million dollars."
"That's no reason to cry," said the second.
"That would make you happy, that's true," said the first, "but
last week another uncle died and left me two million dollars."
"But why are you so unhappy then?"
The man said, "I only had two uncles!"
Expectation is very, very dangerous. With expectation, even if
something happens you will not feel fulfilled, because
expectation is almost insanity. You go on expecting more and
more -- now the man is miserable because he had only two uncles.
Whatsoever happens is not going to make you happy if you start
with expectations. Drop expectation -- that is not the right
thing to bring into meditation -- and immediately things will
start happening.
Next camp, or from tomorrow, just meditate.
Enjoy it intrinsically. There is no need to look for any result.
Let it happen. Let the future come of its own accord. Don't make
a destination out of meditation -- just simple direction will
do. Enjoy it. Celebrate it. Be festive about it.
The very act of meditation is a great joy. Just to be able to
dance, just to be able to sing, just to be able to sit silently
and breathe and be, is more than enough. Don't ask for anything
else. Because of your asking you are corrupting your being. You
have tried that way, now listen to me and try my way. You simply
meditate.
"After each camp, I am left deeply frustrated and anxious..."
The problem does not arise after the camp, it arises before the
camp. First you sow the seeds of expectation, then who is going
to suffer? You will suffer. You will have to reap the crop.
"... as if I have been waiting for something to happen that
never happens..."
That is never going to happen. Whatsoever you are waiting for,
you are waiting in vain. It is not going to happen, and what is
going to happen has nothing to do with your expectations and
your desires. You just let it come in; don't block the way.
Remove yourself out of your own way. This time, with no
expectations, no desires, no hopes, just meditate.
"... and I say to myself: Heera, you are back in the same boat
again."
If you listen to me you will never again be in the same boat. It
is the boat of expectation. Frustration is a by-product. You
want to get rid of the frustration but you don't want to get rid
of the expectation. Then it is impossible. Buddha is reported to
have said, "If you want to get rid of death, get rid of birth."
There is no other way. If you want to get rid of misery, get rid
of the lust for happiness. And when there is no misery, there IS
happiness. But it is not because you desire it; it is because
you don't have any desire. In a deep desireless state, you are
full of bliss.
Source: from book “The Beloved” By Osho
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