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Osho on Meditation during Menstruation
Question:
Beloved Osho, It seems so unfortunate that
existence had to give women this thing called
menstruation every month. It's one of those things you
know is coming, and you know all the emotions and crazy
things that follow with it. And yet it is the most
difficult thing to be able to watch and not identified
with - at least for me. Funnily enough, even the men
seem to get involved and identified with it when we are
in it. How can we watch something that is such an
intrinsic part of our biology?
Osho : The art of
watchfulness is the same whether you are watching
something outside of you or you are watching something
in your own biology – it is also outside of you. I know
it is difficult, because you are more identified with
it; it is so close. But the problem is not watchfulness,
the problem is identification. That identification
should be broken.
When you feel that your menstruation is coming, try to
watch, try to see what it is bringing along with it –
anger, depression, hate, a tendency to fight, a desire
to throw tantrums. Just watch – and not only watch but
say to the man you love, ”This is going to come within
me. I will try my best to be aware, but if I get
identified you need not get involved in it, you can
simply watch. You are far away and outside of it.”
And the man can know that a woman in menstruation is in
difficulty. She needs your compassion. And the same
should be done by the woman, because you may not know,
but man also has his period every month. Because it has
no physical expression, for centuries nobody has been
aware that man also goes through the same cycle. He has
to, because he and she are parts of one whole.
A man also, for four or five days each month, goes into
a dark hole. you can at least throw the whole
responsibility on your menstruation. He cannot even do
that because his menstruation is only emotional – he
passes through the same emotions that you pass through.
And because there was no physical expression of it,
nobody ever thought about it. But now it is an
established fact that every
month he passes through the same situation as you. So he
is not superior in that way, and you are not unfortunate
in comparison to him.
The difficulty arises, that when you love a man and you
live with him long enough, slowly, slowly your
body rhythms become very, very harmonious. So when you
have your menstruation, he also has his menstruation.
That creates the real trouble – both of you are in a
dark hole, both are depressed, both are sad, both are in
despair. And you throw the responsibility on each other.
So the man has to find out when he has his period. And
the way to find out is to just write down in your diary,
every day, how it is. And you will find a block of five
days when you were continuously in
depression, in a bad mood, ready to fight. Watching for
two to three months – noting in your diary –
you will come to an absolute conclusion: these are the
five days. Make your woman aware: ”These
are my five days.”
If they are different from your woman’s, it is good,
fortunate, because the trouble will be only half. So,
the man can watch when the woman throws tantrums and
does all kinds of stupid things. He need not
participate, he need not answer, he need not react. He
should play cool and give the woman a chance to see that
he is playing cool, which means ”I should be aware.”
But if these periods coincide, then there is a real
calamity. But then, too, you both can be aware. You can
see that he is also suffering from his menstrual period
and it is not good to throw anything more upon the poor
fellow, and he can understand that you are suffering and
”It is good to keep my load on myself.”
Just be watchful. Soon there will be a possibility....
It was really the religions of the world who have been
preventing it; otherwise, the menstrual period can
disappear – and from women more easily than from men. If
you are on the pill, perhaps it may disappear. To most
women the pill is a perfect thing – the period
disappears. So there is no harm; be on the pill. And
just a few days ago I heard they have discovered a pill
for the man too, so he can also take his pill.
But that will only change your biological situation.
What is more important is to be aware. If you can
be aware of the situation and not get identified, that
will be far more significant. But the pill will take
away your physical pain. And I am perfectly in favor of
that. There is no need to suffer any physical pain
unnecessarily – if it can be alleviated. So find a pill
and forget about the physical, the biological suffering.
And the man should also do the same, because he goes
through the same period. It’s just that the
poor fellow has not been aware of it for millions of
years because there is no physical expression of
it. But there is psychological expression, and it is
exactly the same.
So first, find out when the period is. And if the pill
is now available in the market for the man too, he
should also take the pill. And awareness you can
practice in a thousand other ways. There is no need to
suffer bodily, physical pain unnecessarily. Certainly
the pill can stop your period; it can also stop the
possibility of your getting pregnant – which is a
blessing, because the world does not need any more
population.
But meanwhile, try awareness.
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