Know only consciousness exists

What the method is

The core instruction for this meditation, as listed in the provided text, is “Know only consciousness exists”. This technique aims to lead the practitioner to the realization that their fundamental reality, and indeed all existence, is pure consciousness, thereby transcending the illusory perception of a separate, individual self and a material world.

How it is done

While direct, step-by-step instructions for “Know only consciousness exists” are not explicitly detailed in the provided excerpts, the practice can be inferred by combining various Tantric principles and techniques aimed at dissolving the ego and realizing fundamental unity, as discussed by Osho:

  • Shifting Identification: The primary step is to shift your identification from the limited body and mind to the boundless, universal consciousness. This involves recognizing that the individual “I” or ego is a false construct.
  • Witnessing without Identification: Practice being a witness to all phenomena – thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations, and external events – without identifying with them. This allows you to perceive them as happening to the cosmos through you, rather than to you as a separate entity.
  • Feeling “I am”: Engage in self-remembering, cultivating a non-verbal feeling of “I am” or “am-ness”. This pure feeling of existence, without conceptualization or attachment to a name or form, helps you move beyond the mind’s illusions.
  • Dissolving the Object/Subject Division: Through practices like looking at an object until it dissolves or withdrawing sight and thought from an object, you can experience the dissolution of external objects and eventually the mental images of them, leading to a state of pure, objectless consciousness. Similarly, feeling “the absence of all other objects but this one” helps concentrate and then transcend.
  • Embracing Oneness with Existence: Contemplate and feel yourself as a “wave” in the “cosmic ocean,” where your individuality is seen as false and illusory, and your non-duality with the universal is the truth. This can be practiced by feeling the ocean breathing in you, and with every exhalation, feeling a wave dying, recognizing the nothingness (shunya) in between.
  • Transcending Duality: By remaining in the “middle” between polarities (e.g., pleasure and pain, good and bad, life and death), the mind’s divisive nature can be transcended, allowing for the experience of an undivided reality where only consciousness exists.
  • Acceptance and Non-Judgment: Cultivate total acceptance of reality as it is, without judgment or condemnation, as the fundamental framework for all spiritual practice. This “no-fight” attitude facilitates the dissolution of mental divisions and allows the energy to flow back to its source.
Commentaries and Insights
  • The Mind as the Problem, Not Reality: Osho consistently emphasizes that the mind is the primary source of division, duality, and problems, not reality itself. The mind creates concepts like good/bad, pure/impure, and the illusion of a separate self, preventing the direct experience of non-dual reality.
  • Ego as the Root of Suffering: The “small self” or ego is an illusory construct arising from identification with the body and mind. It is the root of misery, fear, and the fear of death. Realizing “I am not” leads to profound liberation and the disappearance of suffering. When the “I” is not, the real “I” opens; when the ego is not, you encounter your being, which is void.
  • Consciousness as Ultimate Reality: The essence of existence is pure consciousness. It is beyond body, mind, and all perceived forms. The external world and its perceived problems are ultimately reflections of the mind. To “know only consciousness exists” is to transcend these reflections and realize the fundamental, unproblematic reality.
  • Samadhi and Omnipresence: The result of this realization is samadhi or enlightenment, characterized by a profound dissolution of the individual center into the cosmos, an “oceanic feeling” where the self becomes omnipresent. In this state, there is no personal “center” or “ego”; rather, the center is everywhere or nowhere. This is the ultimate “beingness,” beyond time and space, devoid of suffering and fear.
  • “No-Mind” State: The practice aims for a state of “no-mind” (shunya or emptiness), where thoughts cease, and awareness remains without any mental process. This state is not unconsciousness but heightened alertness.
  • Truth is Already Present: Truth, or enlightenment, is not an achievement to be gained in the future; it is already the inherent state of being, present “here and now”. Techniques are merely tools to remove the layers of conditioning and ignorance that obscure this inherent reality.
  • Acceptance as the Framework: Tantra’s emphasis on total acceptance of reality, without struggle or judgment, is crucial. This “no-fight” approach allows transformation to unfold naturally by releasing inner conflict and accumulated energy. For Tantra, “sleep is impure, alertness is pure, and all else is just meaningless”.
  • Beyond Duality and Morality: Tantra transcends conventional moral judgments, viewing dualities like good/bad or pure/impure as mental constructs. The only “sin” is unconsciousness or unawareness, and the goal is total alertness.
  • Effort vs. Spontaneity: While initial effort is needed to break identification and dissolve barriers, the ultimate realization of oneness is not something to be “achieved” through strenuous effort. It happens spontaneously when the conditions are ripe, similar to a flower blooming. The simpler the technique, the more profound it can be, as the mind often seeks difficulty to feed the ego.
  • Guidance and Individual Path: For powerful techniques, guidance from a master can be invaluable. A master helps shatter illusions and provides tailored techniques based on the disciple’s individual nature and state. Osho notes that “every type of mind has been taken into account” by the 112 techniques of Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, implying that one or more will be suitable for every human being.
  • Connection to Other Concepts: This realization is related to concepts like:
    • “From the Wave to the Cosmic Ocean”
    • “Self-remembering”
    • “Thinking no thing” / “no-mind”
    • “Pure consciousness”
    • The dissolution of the observer/observed dichotomy, leading to a state of pure subjectivity without an object.
    • The understanding that “this very world is nirvana” or “this very world is divine” because the division exists only in the limited, deluded mind.
    • The experience that “the universe is a reflection of minds”.