Be aware of that which never changes in you

What the Method Is

The core instruction for this method is: “Be the unsame same to friend as to stranger, in honor and dishonor”. This sutra encapsulates the practice of maintaining an inner constancy and unified attitude regardless of changing external circumstances or emotional states. It posits that while outward behaviour might differ (“unsame”), an underlying, unchanging essence (“same”) is to be realised and embodied.

How It Is Done

To practice “Be aware of that which never changes in you”, the following guidance is provided:

  • Identify the Unchanging Core: The fundamental step is to remember that which is always the same within you. This unchanging aspect provides your true identity and prevents chaos, though it is often obscured by the mind’s focus on constant change.
  • Discriminate Between Change and Constancy: Cultivate vivek, the discrimination between the realm of change (periphery, body, mind, external situations) and the realm of the unchanging (your innermost centre).
  • Apply to All Opposites: Consciously apply this principle to all polar opposites in life. For instance, when interacting with a friend versus a stranger, or experiencing honour versus dishonour, let your outward behaviour be “unsame” (different as appropriate to the situation), but ensure your innermost attitude or centre remains “same”. This also extends to internal states like love and hate, poverty and richness, comfort and discomfort.
  • Witness Periphery, Remain Centred: Allow the periphery – your personality, body-mind, and the external world – to move and change as is its nature. Do not try to make it static or fight against its natural flux. Instead, be a witness to this changing periphery while remaining rooted in your unmoving centre.
  • Relax into the Flux: Instead of struggling, simply float in the flow of change without anxiety. When you are relaxed, the constantly changing background of life will provide the necessary contrast for you to perceive your unchanging inner centre.
  • “Consume Change Through Change”: This Tantric approach means embracing change rather than fighting it. For example, if anger arises, do not fight it or suppress it; instead, “be” with the anger, present and witnessing, without making an effort to change it. By doing so, the anger (or any emotion or experience) can be “consumed” and its energy transformed.
Commentaries and Insights

Osho’s commentaries offer deep insights into the philosophical and practical dimensions of this method:

  • Tantra’s Non-Dualistic Foundation: Tantra is fundamentally a love technique focused on participating with reality and dissolving boundaries to move towards an undifferentiated state where definitions cease. It asserts that the mind, with its analytical and dividing nature, creates distinctions, while reality is indivisible.
  • The Nature of the Self: There is an inherent “sameness” within every individual that never changes, forming the basis of identity. This core is pure, untouched by external experiences or “dust” (knowledge, memories, past). The “I am” is this simple awareness of being, transcending all accidental attributes like name, family, or beliefs.
  • Beyond Duality and Conflict: Traditional morality often imposes man-made distinctions like ‘good’ and ‘bad’, ‘pure’ and ‘impure’, creating inner division and conflict. Tantra, being amoral, advocates for radical acceptance of everything “as it is,” dissolving internal opposition to achieve a “total existence within, undivided, non-conflicting, not opposed”. This “no fight” attitude is central to Tantra.
  • Acceptance as Transformation: Total acceptance is the basic framework for Tantric practice. When everything is accepted, including challenging emotions or experiences, the individual is “thrown to the center” and transcends. This is not about ‘giving up’ but about profound understanding, which leads to spontaneous transformation.
  • The Paradox of Simplicity: This method, like many Tantric techniques, appears deceptively simple. However, Osho explains that spiritual transformation is not a causal phenomenon requiring arduous effort but a discovery of what is already present. The ego, however, craves difficulty, often dismissing simple methods because they offer no challenge or sense of ‘conquest’.
  • Physiological and Psychological Interconnectedness: Tantra views the body as the starting point for spiritual transformation, understanding that physiological and psychological processes are deeply linked. This method leverages the body’s natural flux to reveal the unchanging.
  • Relationship to Other Traditions:
    • Buddha’s Middle Path: This method resonates with Buddha’s concept of majjhim nikai (the middle way), which advocates for remaining balanced between extremes. Buddha also emphasized the impermanence of all things (“change, change, change”) to foster detachment.
    • Tantric Distinction from Buddha: While Buddha might teach to eliminate change to find the unchanging, Tantra proposes to “consume change through change”. This means accepting and experiencing the change fully and consciously, rather than fighting it, which paradoxically reveals the unchanging core.
    • Gurdjieff’s Influence: The concept of “self-remembering,” a core technique in Gurdjieff’s system, is derived from this sutra’s emphasis on being aware of one’s own being in every action.
    • Beyond Misery and Bliss: An enlightened being, through this profound non-identification, ceases to “cause” anything. Such a being is described by Buddha as simply “not in misery,” rather than being explicitly “blissful,” as bliss itself is a human creation.
  • Authenticity and Non-Judgement: Being authentic involves living factually, shedding the “false persona” and societal conditioning. The “Do not judge” method is foundational here, as it removes the mental constructs that prevent one from seeing reality and oneself “as is”.
  • Function of Awareness: The true purpose of meditation is to cultivate alertness. When one is perfectly aware, external circumstances or internal moods no longer create suffering, as the unchanging core is realized. The clarity experienced is a result of “lessening disease” (of the mind), leading to a state where “there is no mind” at all, opening a different dimension of clarity.
  • The Guru’s Role: While methods can be practiced individually, a master’s guidance, especially through initiation, can be crucial. A master assists in breaking inner barriers and navigating the transformative process by identifying the most suitable technique for an individual’s unique being.