The Mala
Another point: the mala with a picture has so many reasons behind
it. One, the picture is not mine. Had it been mine, I would have
hesitated to put it there. No one would be courageous enough to put
his own picture. Everyone will think of putting it there, but no one
will put it there. The picture only appears as mine. It is not. No
picture is possible really. The moment one knows himself, one knows
something which cannot be depicted, described, framed. I exist as an
emptiness which cannot be pictured, which cannot be photographed.
That is why I could put the picture there.
Two or three things more are to be understood. The more you know
that picture, the more you concentrate on it, the more you come in
tune with it - the more you will feel what I am saying. The more
you concentrate on it, the more there will not be any picture. But
this is something you will have to do to know. In the evening
meditations, concentrate on me for forty minutes without closing
your eyelids even for a single moment. Those who concentrate for
forty minutes continuously come to know so many times that I am not
there. The place becomes empty and vacant. And unless one knows
this, he has not been able to concentrate.
So this picture is given to you for some meditation. The more you
will go into meditation, the more you will know that the locket is
empty, and once in concentration with this locket you become attuned
to me. Only in that moment when there is no picture, when you know
that the locket is vacant, that there is no one, when nothingness is
there, can you communicate with me. That is also why I have given it
to you.
The mala has one hundred and eight beads. It represents the one hundred and eight methods of meditation. Any method will do. It is just to remind you continuously that one hundred and eight doors are open to bring you into light, and you are unnecessarily groping in darkness.
...My picture, and the locket in the mala, is simply symbolic. It is not something sacred. It is symbolic of your freedom from all religions the way I am free! It is symbolic that you are my fellow travelers. It is symbolic of your love.
(Osho - From Bondage to Freedom #9)