OM is not a Mantra
If you repeat OM continuously, year in and year out, it will become your habit. It will become a
subtle layer around you; it will prevent you from hearing the real OM. The real OM cannot be produced by you.
That′s why I am against the so-called transcendental meditation of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It is very destructive. It is a
lullaby; it only gives you good sleep, at the most. It can′t awaken you. It can cool you, it can give you a little calmness;
it is good for people who are suffering from nervousness, tension, anxiety. It is a psychological device, it is a psychological
drug - a non-medicinal tranquilizer. But it is not meditation, no. It is neither meditation nor transcendental; it is not at all.
It simply soothes you, consoles you, helps you to go into good sleep.
And it is not accidental that America has become very much interested in the so-called transcendental meditation of Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi, because America is suffering tremendously from insomnia. People have lost their sleep. They want sleep at any cost;
they are ready to try anything. And transcendental meditation can help you to have a good sleep.
But meditation is just the opposite. Meditation is waking up. It is not a lullaby, it is diametrically the opposite. It is a shock,
it shatters your sleep and your dreams. If you are a beggar, you are no more a beggar; it shatters the idea of your beggar-hood.
If you are a prime minister, you are no more a prime minister; it shatters your illusion of being a prime minister. It shatters
all identities. It simply reveals one fact, that you are God. It only reveals your reality and takes all illusions away.
OM is not a mantra. So, don′t use it as a mantra. It is a scientific formula, just like H2O. H2O is not water. You can go
on repeating - when you are feeling thirsty you can sit and go on repeating - "H2O, H2O" - you can make a mantra out of
it, and it may help you to fall asleep. Try, and you will be surprised: H2O can do the same as any mantra. Just try, "H2O,
H2O" - sway with it - H2O, H2O - go on, go on, faster and faster and faster - and soon you will be transported into deep
sleep.
And when you awake, you will feel fresh, certainly fresh, but you will still be thirsty. It can′t help your thirst, it
can′t quench you. And not that the formula is wrong, but a formula is not a mantra.
OM is the H2O of the spiritual transformation. It has all the secrets in it, but it is not something to be repeated. It has to be
understood, so understand these things. First, OM is not a word; it is a pure sound, the purest, the ultimate sound of existence.
When all is gone, that sound remains. That is the sound of soundlessness, the sound of silence.
And, symbolically, OM represents your waking consciousness, your dreaming consciousness, your sleeping consciousness, and the
beyond - the Turiya - the fourth state, where one becomes Bhagwan, where one becomes Christ, Buddha, where one is one with
totality. It is a tremendously important formula; it contains the whole metaphysics of the East. But it is not a mantra. Please
never repeat it. Repeating won′t help; it will deceive you. Try to understand it, and then start becoming more and more
aware of your waking consciousness. Walking on the road, walk with full awareness, knowing that you are walking. Then slowly,
slowly transform every act into awareness. De-automatize every act.
A man came to me...
He had been suffering from chain-smoking for thirty years; he was ill and the doctors said, "You will never
be healthy if you don′t stop smoking." But he was a chronic smoker; he could not help it. He had tried - not that he
had not tried - he had tried hard, and he had suffered much in trying, but one day or two days, and then again the urge would come
so tremendously, it would simply take him away. Again he would fall into the same pattern.
Because of this smoking he had lost all self-confidence: he knows he cannot do a small thing; he cannot stop smoking. He had
become worthless in his own eyes; he thought himself just the most worthless person in the world. He had no respect for himself.
He came to me; he said, "What can I do? How can I stop smoking?"
I said, "Nobody can stop smoking. You have to understand. Smoking is not only a question of your decision now. It has entered
into your world of habits, it has taken roots. Thirty years is a long time. It has taken roots in your body, in your chemistry, it
has spread all over. It is not just a question of your head deciding; your head cannot do anything. The head is impotent; it can
start things, but it cannot stop so easily. Once you have started and once you have practiced so long, you are a great yogi -
thirty years′ practicing smoking. It has become autonomous; you will have to de-automatize it."
He said, "What do you mean by ′de-automatization′?"
And that′s what meditation is all about: de-automatization.
I said, "You do one thing: forget about stopping. There is no need either. For thirty years you have smoked and lived; of
course it was a suffering, but you have become accustomed to that too. And what does it matter if you die a few hours earlier than
you would have died without smoking? What are you going to do here? What have you done? So what is the point - whether you die
Monday or Tuesday or Sunday, this year, that year - what does it matter?"
He said, "Yes, that is true, it doesn′t matter."
Then I said, "Forget about it; we are not going to stop it at all. Rather, we are going to understand it. So next time, you
make it a meditation."
He said, "Meditation out of smoking?"
I said, "Yes. If Zen people can make meditation out of drinking tea, and can make it a ceremony, why not? Smoking can be as
beautiful a meditation."
He looked thrilled. He said, "What are you saying?" He became alive! He said, "Meditation? Just tell me - I cannot
wait! "
I gave him the meditation. I said, "Do one thing. When you take the packet out of your pocket, for a moment go slowly. When
you are taking the packet of cigarettes out of your pocket move slowly. Enjoy it, there is no hurry. Be conscious, alert, aware;
take it out slowly, with full awareness. Then take the cigarette out of the packet with full awareness, slowly - not in the old
hurried way, unconscious way, mechanical way. Then start tapping the cigarette on your packet - but very alertly. Listen to the
sound, just as Zen people do when the samovar starts singing and the tea starts boiling, and the aroma. Then smell the cigarette
and the beauty of it..."
He said, "What are you saying? The beauty?"
"Yes, it is beautiful. Tobacco is as divine as anything. Even Morarji Desai is divine, so why not tobacco? Smell it; it is
God′s smell."
He looked a little surprised. He said, "What, are you joking?"
"No, I am not joking."
Even when I joke, I don′t joke. I am very serious.
"Then put it in your mouth, with full awareness, light it with full awareness. Enjoy every act, small act, and divide it into
as many small acts as possible, so you can become more and more aware. "Then have the first puff: God in the form of smoke.
Hindus say,′Annam Brahm′ - ′Food is God.′ Why not smoke? All is God. Fill your lungs deeply - this is a
Pranayam. I am giving you the new yoga for the new age! Then release the smoke, relax, another puff... and go very slowly.
"If you can do it, you will be surprised, soon you will see the whole stupidity of it. Not because others have said that it
is stupid, not because others have said that it is bad: you will see it. And the seeing will not be just intellectual. It will be
from your total being, it will be a vision of your totality. And then, one day, if it drops, it drops; if it continues, it
continues. You need not worry about it."
After three months he came, and he said, "But it dropped."
"Now," I said, "try it on other things too."
This is the secret, the secret: de-automatize. Walking, walk slowly, watchfully. Looking, look watchfully, and you will see trees
are greener than they have ever been and roses are rosier than they have ever been. Listen. Somebody is talking, gossiping: listen,
listen attentively. When you are talking, talk attentively. Let your whole waking activity become de-automatized, and then you
will be surprised, the moment it happens, your dream activity will have a new perspective. You will start becoming aware in your
dream.
Then start watching your dreams. That is a miracle when it happens. When you start watching your dreams you are really a totally
different person. Then the dreams have no impact on you. Watching your dreams, one day dreams disappear; you have de-automatized
your dreaming process. And then you will be able to watch your dreamless sleep: you are asleep, and you are still awake. The whole
body sleeping, every cell of it relaxed, the whole mechanism silent - and you are watching there, a silent witness.
When this third has happened, the fourth arises on its own: the humming sound. You are full of a new music. That music is God.