Recently it was reported in the Western media that Emma Watson, at the
age of nine, went from being a normal kid to one of Hollywood’s most
famous child stars overnight when she took the role of Hermione
Granger in the Harry Potter series. The attention was sudden — and
very hard for Emma to deal with. People were asking her, “What do you
think of this? Who are you, who are you, who are you?”

She did not have any answers to such queries then and was terrified by
the huge attention she was getting. At times she felt lonely as many
people do.

Loneliness is not always bad if one wants to ponder over the
existential questions of life. It can become a real blessing in
disguise. I guess this is what happened to Emma. Being in such a
space, she may have had her moments of meditation which opens the door
to self-realisation. She could figure out “Who am I”. Sometime later,
Emma realised that she was separate from her character Hermione: “For
the first time in my life, I feel like I have a sense of self that I’m
comfortable with.”

Perhaps, by this time, she started reading the discourses of
enlightened master Osho and gained more confidence as an individual.

This confidence was extended to her love life, too. “As a child of
divorce, I am endlessly fascinated with finding the perfect formula
for making it work,” she said. “But I think the biggest lesson I
learned is that there aren’t any rules. (As Indian guru Osho said)
‘Love never becomes wise, and that is its wisdom.’ Sit with the
discomfort. Don’t run away from it. Lean into it, take your time with
it. So many people jump into things just because they can’t stand the
discomfort of not knowing.”

Meditation is really essential for those individuals who pursue the
profession of acting, as Osho tells us about his own experience: “Many
people come to me and ask, ‘Why do so many actors come to you?’ My
experience is this, that acting is one of the most spiritual
professions in the world. Because an actor moves into so many actings
— sometimes he is this, sometimes that — so many identities that he
becomes loose. Then one day he suddenly starts thinking, ‘Who am I?
One day I am Abraham Lincoln, another day I am George Washington,
another day I become this and that,’ and every day he goes on
changing. In one film he is one, in another film he is another.
Sometimes he is a saint and sometimes he is a sinner. Only then can he
be a perfect actor…”

The enlightened mystic adds: “To me, acting is one of the most
spiritual professions. And if you take life as an acting, you will
start moving towards spirituality. Take life as an acting, you will
start moving towards spirituality. Take life as acting a great drama.
The world is a vast stage. You are a mother — that is only one role.
You are a father — that is only one role. You are a businessman —
another role. You are a brother to somebody — another role. You are a
son, husband — another role… a thousand and one roles if you watch.
And you go on changing your faces. When your servant comes to see you,
you have a different face.”

We live in the world of images. We have a certain image of everybody
who may come in contact with us. The image as the word is more to do
with imagination than the real person. While a person changes, our
image of that individual remains fixed. This is true about us.
Unconsciously, we begin to form our own image with the comments,
criticism and appreciation that we receive from our relatives, friends
and strangers. We tend to become fixated on this image. We become
imprisoned in this image that has been created with the help of
others. This becomes our identity and we consider it as our reality.
We get into all kinds of conflicts and troubles to protect this
particular “reality” based on fabricated images. Any criticism of this
image is disturbing. But there’s a limit to criticism. Osho points out
that everybody likes to criticise others but cannot take criticism in
one’s stride.

When somebody praises your beauty, intelligence, or your uniqueness,
you feel happy and accept it. But when someone criticises you, you are
unable to accept the criticism.

It goes against the image that you have been creating of yourself. You
will retaliate, you will fight tooth and nail. However, your mind has
taken the impression of this opinion too. There are millions of people
in the world and they all have their own opinions, likes and dislikes.

Meditation means becoming aware of all these things on the periphery
of our being and looking deeply within our consciousness — which is
essentially a witness to this play of likes and dislikes, opinions and
judgements. We need to dis-identify with this stuff and free
ourselves. Discarding and renouncing all that is imaginary is the real
sanyas. There is no need to escape from the world — one needs to
escape into one’s true being beyond imagination and the ego
based on this. The ego is so cunning that it can give us a false
feeing of “holier than thou”, imagining ourselves superior to others.

In The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Osho says: Every morning,
early in the morning when you read the newspapers, it always gives you
a good feeling — so much happening all over the world, so many ugly
things, so much violence, murder, suicide, rape, robbery, that
compared to all this you are a saint. Hence people don’t like to read
the Bible in the morning, or the Gita, but the newspaper! Reading the
Gita you feel like a sinner, reading the Bible you start feeling a
trembling, that hell is bound to happen to you, that you are on the
way… Ego does not want to be criticised and wants to criticise
everybody. Become aware of the strategy of the ego, how it nourishes
itself, how it protects itself. Unless you become absolutely aware of
all the cunning devices of the ego, you will never be able to get rid
of it. And to get rid of it is the beginning of a religious life, is
the beginning of sanyas. Then you are no longer worried what others
say about you.”

Learn the art of acting of your own accord. Don’t be worried about
criticisms and don’t be interested in compliments and praise. If you
are interested in being praised by others, then you cannot be
unconcerned about criticism. Remain aloof. Then praise or criticism,
success or failure will be the same for you

ime was approaching the new year and everybody was busy making arrangements about how to welcome it and make resolutions for the new year. A disciple who was totally confused and unable to come to any conclusion, asked Osho: “If one were to make only one new year’s resolution, what would you suggest?”

Osho responded in his very unique way: “This and only this can be the new year’s resolution: I resolve never to make any resolutions because all resolutions are restrictions for the future. All resolutions are imprisonments. You decide today for tomorrow? You have destroyed tomorrow.

“Resolution means you will allow only this and you will not allow that. Resolution means you would like the sun to rise in the west and not in the east. If it rises in the east, you will not open your windows; you will keep your windows open to the west.

What is resolution? Resolution is struggle. Resolution is ego. Resolution is saying, “I cannot live spontaneously.” And if you cannot live spontaneously, you don’t live at all — you only pretend.

“So let only one resolution be there: I will never make any resolutions. Drop all resolutions! Let life be a natural spontaneity. The only golden rule is that there are no golden rules.”

According to Osho, a man of meditation lives moment to moment — Here and Now! And this moment is all there is. Out of this moment emerges the next moment. This moment contains eternity. So no need of wishing Happy New Year! Say Happy Now Here!