The full-moon night is the best for meditation. Many people who have become buddhas have attained their enlightenment on the full-moon night, even Buddha himself.

It may have been a coincidence, but it is significant to remember: he was born on the full-moon night, he became enlightened on the full-moon night and he died on the full-moon night.

Something in the full moon seemed to be synchronizing with his energy.

Use it. Be alert and use every possibility to help you go in. Once you are awakened, then there is no problem. Then you can be at ease, at rest, at peace, anywhere.” Osho, The Dhammapada

 

Consciousness: Beyond the Frontiers of Mind Swami Chaitanya Keerti

There are hundreds of meditation methods being practiced all over the world. But perhaps there’s only one of them is time-tested method which has been effective for the last ten thousand years. This method is known as Vipassana, which really means watching one’s breath. This method has never failed simply because it brings our whole consciousness in the moment. Meditation also means the art of being in the moment — no past, no future, just in this moment.

 

When we pray or chant a mantra, our mind can wander off in all directions. Thinking continues. Calculations go on. The mind becomes full of the market. We may start dreaming or having an inner dialogue with our beloved or wife, friend or an enemy. It does not matter with whom — we may start talking with the Almighty God of our own imagination. We may create any hallucination. Everything that our mind does takes us to the past or the future. And what brings us back in the moment? This simple method of watching the breath in its natural rhythm.

 

We cannot breathe in the past or the future. It is simply impossible.

When we breathe, our thinking also stops because the breathing needs all the attention. You cannot divide the attention. Breath generates a certain amount of energy in the body that has its own effect. In certain meditation methods, such as Osho Dynamic Meditation, vigorous breathing takes place. Such methods are really helpful as a preparation to move to simple methods of watching the breath. Such methods bring deeper relaxation and when you relax later, you can watch your breath passively and naturally and continue to remain in the moment.

 

In Vipassana one goes inward with the breath consciously and comes out with it consciously. There’s no time gap in between. You are not thinking of exhaling when you are inhaling. You are not thinking of inhaling when you are exhaling. Try this method and see what happens to you in this process. Go on to the terrace or some other solitary place where there’s no possibility of any interference.

 

Just sitting and watching the breath is a traditional method of Vipassana. This method in its purity is very good but may not be suitable to everybody in the beginning. Most of the people have a lot of tension in their body and they find it quite difficult to just sit and watch the breath. So I have a suggestion for them to do something else before they get into this method. One thing that may be useful is to breathe vigorously for some time– bring all your energy to exhaling and inhaling. The moment will come naturally when you will feel like sitting down or just standing or you may even want to lie down. Do that. Then watch your breath going in and coming out in its natural rhythm. You will feel the deepest rest and total relaxation, at the same time a glimpse of meditation or expansion of your consciousness. With such techniques you can always find your own rhythm and time limit.

 

Meditation happens in deep restfulness, in passive alertness, it is not an action. It actually happens when all action stops and ultimately the mind stops. It is an intense feeling of unknown energy that resides within us.

 

This energy is really a delight and celebration. If you start your day like this you become very light and you would have a subtle dance to your ordinary walk. An early dose of this energy will work wonders for the rest of the day. You will move with a confidence you have never seen before. When your work matesco-workers start noticing this change, you can invite them to join you. Then even your office can become tension-free and a place of meditation. You transcend the mundane and enter the divine.

 

In one of his discourses on meditation, Osho concludes: The mind is a wall, meditation is a bridge. The mind disconnects, meditation reconnects. And once you are one with the whole that means you are one with the trees and the mountains and the rivers and the stars and the sun and the moon. Then this infinity is yours and all its joys are yours. Life starts having freedom for the first time because all limitations disappear — and that is the ultimate desire of the human heart. We are searching continuously for the union, knowingly or unknowingly. We want to merge with the whole, because only with the whole does life come to its ultimate peak. Ecstasy attains its Everest.