Feel an object and become it

What the Method Is

The core instruction for this meditation method is: “Feel an object before you. Feel the absence of all other objects but this one. Then, leaving aside the object-feeling and the absence-feeling, realize.” This sutra outlines a process to move from identification with a single object to the realization of pure subjectivity or nothingness.

How It Is Done

To practice this method, you should:

  • Choose an object: Select any object before you, for example, a roseflower.
  • Feel the object (first step): Do not just see it or think about it; instead, genuinely feel the object. This means engaging your senses beyond mere visual or intellectual recognition. For example, if it’s a rose, feel its essence, rather than just identifying it as “a rose” based on memory.
    • Initial Practice: For a few days or weeks, focus solely on this first part. Allow your whole consciousness to be filled with this one object, to the exclusion of all others. The goal is to reach a point where you can say, “Now I am the flower”.
    • Developing Feeling: To deepen your capacity for “feeling,” Osho suggests practices like:
      • Mimicking a child’s exploration: Observe a small child exploring the world (on all fours, touching, tasting, smelling everything) and try to emulate their pure sensory engagement.
      • Sensory immersion: When showering, feel every drop of water; when breathing, feel the breath’s movement; feel your own body and others’ bodies through massage.
      • Conscious engagement with simple actions: Listen to sounds without labeling them, just experiencing the sensation. In the morning, be present without thinking immediately after waking.
      • Developing sensitivity: Practice sensing specific body parts, like a hand, by focusing intensely on its sensations until it feels more and more alive.
  • Feel the absence of other objects (second step): Once you are completely filled with the chosen object, consciously feel the absence of all other objects around it. Your mind should be focused only on the chosen object.
  • Leave aside the object-feeling and absence-feeling (third step): After mastering the first two steps, consciously drop the feeling of the object itself, and the feeling of the absence of other objects. This leads to a state where nothing external remains as an object of consciousness.
  • Realize the vacuum/nothingness: In this final stage, you are left in an “absolute vacuum” or “nothingness.” Shiva says to “realize” this state, as it is your true nature – pure being.
    • Step-by-step approach: It is crucial to practice this technique in steps, not attempting the whole process at once. Trying to do it all at once will likely lead to failure and the mind dismissing the method as unhelpful.
Commentaries and Insights
  • Breaking Identification (The “Only Sin”): This technique, like others in Tantra, aims to break identification with the body and mind, which George Gurdjieff called the “only sin”. By realizing that even the most concentrated object of awareness can be dropped, one creates a gap between the observer and the observed, leading to the understanding that “you are neither your name nor your form” but the consciousness witnessing them. Unconscious identification is seen as sin; conscious identification, as in meditation, becomes a tool for transformation.
  • The World as a Dream (Maya): Osho frequently refers to our perceived reality as “maya” or a dream. This meditation helps to realize that just as a dream becomes unreal upon waking, the “reality” of the world and the object also dissolves when witnessed from a detached, conscious perspective.
  • Indirect Approach to the Center: Direct attempts to grasp bliss or self-realization often fail because these are “by-products” of genuine engagement. These techniques are indirect approaches; the mind should be concerned with the doing of the technique, not the result. The result (bliss, self-realization) happens automatically when the technique is performed totally.
  • Consciousness as Light/Flame: Osho uses the analogy of consciousness as a flame or light. Just as a lamp’s light illuminates many objects, then one object, and finally exists without illuminating any object, so too does consciousness. By dropping all objects, consciousness remains “pure, uncontaminated, unoccupied” – this pure being is your nature.
  • Connection to Nirvana, Kaivalya, Brahman, Atman: The realization of this “nothingness” or pure being is akin to what Buddha called Nirvana, Mahavira called Kaivalya (total aloneness), and the Upanishads called the experience of Brahman or Atman.
  • Simplicity and Ego’s Resistance: The method appears deceptively simple. The ego, however, is attracted to difficulty and may dismiss such simple techniques as ineffective for profound spiritual growth. Yet, Osho emphasizes that these simple methods are powerful because they touch fundamental realities directly. The shift from outer to inner perception is described as a “surgical operation” that is small but profound.
  • Transformation from Within: This method, like other Tantric practices, starts from “where you are” (the body, the senses) to lead you beyond. Tantra views the body as sacred and a vehicle for spiritual journey, not something to be denied or fought against. By accepting and working with our current state, transformation becomes possible.
  • Master’s Role: While these techniques can be practiced individually, the guidance of a master is invaluable, especially for methods that can be profound or potentially destabilizing if not understood fully. A master can provide initiation, which is a “secret transmission” and a “living relationship” where the master studies the disciple’s specific needs and guides them through the process, ensuring the technique goes deep into the unconscious.
  • Beyond Thinking: The process requires moving beyond mere intellectual understanding or verbalization. To “feel” the object or the self means to be sensitive to your being, without engaging in inner talk or judgment. Thoughts are seen as “dust” covering the pure mirror of the mind.
  • No Fixed Rules/Amoral Approach: Tantra is amoral, not concerned with conventional notions of good or bad, pure or impure. It emphasizes that reality is non-dual, and distinctions are man-made. This stance allows for total acceptance, which is seen as the basic framework for transformation. Acceptance frees energy that would otherwise be used in internal conflict, allowing it to penetrate inward.
  • Achieving Inner Purity: The ultimate aim is to uncover the “inner purity” or innocence that is our true nature. This is achieved by moving from identification with the constantly changing periphery to the unmoving, unchanging center.
  • Gradual vs. Sudden Enlightenment: While the “authentic experience” of enlightenment is sudden, the path to it can involve gradual steps of purification and clarity. These techniques help to reduce the “disease” of the mind, making it more transparent, but the final leap to no-mind is a sudden event.
  • Meditation as Unburdening: Meditation is seen as an “unburdening of repressions” and a way to drop “false faces” or personas, allowing one to encounter their real, authentic self. This method facilitates this by requiring a deep, unjudgmental focus on sensory experience, which helps to reveal what is truly present.