A Secret Method

What the Method Is

The core instruction for this meditation method is: “Listen while the ultimate mystical teaching is imparted. Eyes still, without winking, at once become absolutely free.”. This is presented as a secret method within esoteric Tantra, where a master imparts a profound teaching, mantra, or secret to a disciple.

How It Is Done

To practice or receive this meditation, the following elements are involved:

  • Disciple’s Readiness: The method can only be imparted when the disciple is ready. This readiness implies a state where the master perceives the disciple can receive “that which is unsayable”.
  • Physical Posture and Gaze: The disciple’s eyes must be totally still, without winking. This means refraining from even slight eye movements, indicating an inner stillness.
  • Mental State of Receptivity: The mind should be quiet and thoughtless. The disciple needs to become an empty ear with no movement within, with consciousness “just waiting to be impregnated,” being open, receptive, and passive. This means not waiting for something (which would be thinking), but simply waiting without expectation or desire.
  • Imparting the Teaching: In this state of total inner emptiness and no-mind, the master may impart “just one or two or three words”. This is a deep communion, a “deep transfer of energy” from the master to the disciple.
  • The Outcome: When these conditions are met, and the words penetrate the disciple’s core, the disciple can “At once become absolutely free”.
Commentaries and Insights
  • The Secret Nature of the Method: This method is termed “secret” because it is a highly individualized and personal transmission from a master to a disciple. The master meticulously observes the disciple’s unique qualities, including their type, past lives, and current energy center, to determine the most suitable method and even make minute alterations to it. This personalized nature makes the imparted teaching potentially harmful if shared with others, hence the emphasis on keeping it secret. It is not merely an intellectual instruction but a “secret transmission” intended to go deep into the unconscious, sometimes even given during sleep or a hypnotic trance when the conscious mind is relaxed.
  • The Role of the Master and Disciple: The initiation is a “living relationship” between master and disciple, characterized by deep love and trust. The disciple needs a “feminine attitude of receptivity” – a total surrender, openness, and vulnerability akin to a “womb-like receptivity” where the teaching can grow and transform them. This contrasts sharply with an argumentative or doubting mind, which prevents the answer from penetrating. The master’s grace, therefore, is not “given” but “received” by the disciple’s receptivity. When the disciple is truly ready, the master appears, and the initiation can even lead to immediate enlightenment.
  • Achieving the State of No-Mind: The instruction for the eyes to be “still, without winking” is a physiological technique aimed at inducing a thoughtless state. Rapid eye movements indicate mental processes, and stopping them helps to quiet the mind. When the eyes become completely non-moving, the energy stops flowing through them, and consciousness, having no external object to grasp, is forced inward, leading to the mind becoming “totally vacant”. This state of pure emptiness is referred to as no-mind, which is the necessary condition for the master’s words to penetrate to the very core. Freedom is achieved when one is liberated from the mind, as “Mind is the bondage, the slavery, the servitude”.
  • The Power of the Imparted Word/Mantra: The few words whispered by the master in this state of deep silence and receptivity are not intellectual concepts but act as a “seed” that penetrates to the disciple’s “very core”. This aligns with mantra initiation, where a specific sound, chosen by the master to harmonize with the disciple’s “inner music,” serves as a key to unlock inner harmony. The exact use of the mantra, chanted precisely as given by the master, is crucial for its effectiveness.
  • Immediate Transformation and Liberation: The goal of this technique is to achieve absolute freedom. This freedom is not an attainment in the future but a sudden happening that occurs when one is fully present and aware, shedding the burden of the past and the need for dreaming. When one becomes empty of the “I” (ego), the real “I” (being) is revealed, leading to a state of being “no more” which signifies liberation from the limited self.
  • Patience and Inner Inquiry: The disciple is encouraged to cultivate immense patience, simply waiting for the right moment of impartation rather than asking or expecting. This deep waiting, without desire, is crucial. Osho also highlights that the methods he describes are “generalized methods” to acquaint seekers with possibilities, but true initiation is a distinct, individual, and often immediate process when the right method is given to the right person at the right moment.