Most of us live our life being lost in our thoughts, carrying some kind of a smoke-screen created by our desires. We meet people, talk to them, relate to them and so many other activities continue as needed. We may be paying very little attention to such activities, as these routine activities do not require much attention.
Waking up daily, having breakfast and getting ready to go to office or business is a regular affair. It is a pattern that has become automatic. Only one per cent of our energy and attention may be required to maintain this on a daily basis. What happens to the rest of the energy? We have been giving this energy to a certain master within us, which was originally a slave to do everything utilitarian and useful for us.
This slave was very obedient in the early days of its role and we kept trusting it, gradually leaving everything that was important to it. In the course of time, it got all the power from us and evolved into a monster. This monster is our own mind created by us, having got all the energy from us for so many years, has evolved into an independent entity. Now it is so powerful that it does not listen to us anymore. It is busy churning more and more thoughts throughout the day and weaving dreams in the night while we are sleeping.
Most of the time these dreams do help us sleep, and we are not able to sleep without their stories. The night ends and the smoke-screen created by dreams at night takes a different shape during the hours when we are awake. We think we are awake, but we continue to live as if we are asleep. We move around, we do things in some sort of somnambulism; there is not much awareness.
Yes, there is awakening in the morning, but it is not much of an awakening. Everything is being done in a mechanical way. We may be doing things impulsively or instinctively, with an inbuilt programme, while our mind keeps receiving all the fuel from our desires, to go on in its independent business. It is busy without any real business and keeps us busy, consuming and exhausting all our energy all the time.
In one of his discourses on Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, Osho explains a certain method of meditation to break the spell of mind. He says: Just as you have the impulse to do something, stop. You can try it anywhere. You are taking your bath — suddenly order yourself to “stop!” and stop. Even if it is only for a single moment, you will feel a different phenomena happening within you. You are thrown to the centre and suddenly everything stops. When the body stops totally, your mind stops too.
