Its work is negative. It is like digging a well. The water is already there underneath, the undercurrents are there; by digging you remove a few layers of earth, few rocks, stones, etcetera. Once they are removed the work of digging is finished, the water is available.
The same is the case with meditation: meditation is a method of digging a well within yourself to remove all that the society has imposed upon you. Once that is removed and your inner life starts welling up the method is finished.
One need not remain clinging to meditation for one's whole life, because it is only a method; a method has to be used and then thrown away.
Buddha used to say it is like a boat: you cross the river and then you forget all about the boat. You don't carry it on your head for your whole life because this is the boat which took you from the other shore to this shore.
There are many people who never do meditation -- they are fools. Then there are many other people who do meditation but then they become obsessed with it and they continue doing it; even when the work is over it becomes a dead old habit -- they are also fools and the world consists of these fools.
The moment you have learned the art of putting your mind on and off you have found the ignition key, then method is finished; it has no more value, you can forget all about it.
First put your total energy into meditation but remember never to become a clinger, never to become attached to any method. One has to go on learning and unlearning so that one remains free to learn more, then to unlearn more.
Life should be an eternal pilgrimage of learning and unlearning. Whatsoever is learned has to be unlearned so you are again clean, pure, again a child, again innocent.
This innocence has to happen each moment of your life so you never grow old. You grow up but you never grow old. You remain fresh, as fresh as dewdrops in the morning sun.
Osho
Going All The Way
A Darshan Dairy
