MEDITATION VS SCIENTIST.OSHO

WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO BE MEDITATIVE AND A SCIENTIST?

It is not. To be meditative is difficult for everybody; it is not only a question of the

scientist. Ananda Prabhu is a scientist. But it is the same difficulty as a businessman will

feel, it is the same difficulty as the carpenter will feel. It is not just something new to the

scientist. Maybe quantitatively it is a little more difficult, because his whole mind knows

only one way of functioning, that of concentration. He knows only one way to use the

mind: to focus it on a certain object. And meditation means remaining unfocussed, just

remaining open, open for everything.

While listening to me you can listen in two ways. The scientific way is to concentrate --

what I am saying, concentrate on it. That means close your mind to everything else: the

airplane passes by, and the train makes a noise, and the traffic on the road and the birds

singing in the trees...close your mind to everything. Just let there be only a small keyhole

available to me; listen only to me. That's how the scientist listens; he looks through a

keyhole into existence.

The mystic comes out of the room, stands under the sky, utterly open to everything. That

is the other way of listening, the way a meditator listens. Then you go on listening to me,

and the chirping of the birds goes on as a background to it. And what I am saying the

chirping of the birds cannot disturb -- no, not at all. It enhances its beauty; it gives it

color, it gives it music And not only the chirping of the birds but the airplane passing by

and sudden noise create more silence in contrast.

When the airplane has passed by, you are suddenly listening to me on a deeper level. And

while the airplane is passing and the noise is there, you listen to both. You don't become

disturbed. You don't say inside, "This stupid airplane is disturbing me." The airplane

cannot disturb you. But if you say inside, "This stupid plane is disturbing me," your

SAYING it will be a disturbance; when you are saying it you will lose track of me. The

airplane cannot disturb you, but your reaction to it is bound to.

Listening meditatively means all that is is accepted, welcomed. In all its multiplicity the

universe is received. You are simply open from all sides to all that is happening. And you

will be surprised' It brings such a great silence, such exquisite silence, such profound

silence.

Concentration tires you, meditation never tires you. But it is difficult for everybody, not

only for the scientist -- because we have become accustomed to a certain pattern of

looking at things. You will have to melt your pattern; you will have to become a little

more liquid, fluid, and meditation will come to you. Don't be worried about it being

difficult for the scientist; that idea can create difficulty. Once you have accepted the idea

that it is difficult then it will be difficult. Don't bring that idea; that will become autohypnotic,

it will become a suggestion. It is not difficult: meditation is the simplest and the

easiest thing in the world. We have just become accustomed to concentration. We have

been told since childhood to concentrate: from the primary school to the university we

have been trained for concentration. This is a kind of habituation; it takes a little time to

drop the old habit and to learn something which is not a habit but your very nature.