Divine Contentment

Ok, so I finally got the official notification of my sannyas name from Pune. The meaning of the name is Divine Contentment and I see it as a goal to achieve in my life. The lessons to be learned from this name are to accept who I am and all that has and will happen to me. It does not mean to become a victim and just let life happen, but to witness what is happening, see what the processes are and how I can react and act out of wisdom and not out of my old fear, to not ride the roller-coaster of emotion, but to come more into contact with the peace inside myself.

The question you are asking is: what is sannyas and who is the freaky guy with the beard? Well, sannyas is simply the commitment to devote your life to meditation. It literally means follower or student, but Osho (the freaky guy with the beard) was not so hot on calling his sannyasin (pl.) followers. He did not want to leave behind a doctrine, but more a way of thinking which was not dependent on his words, but rather on the impression that they left on the listener. He even contradicted himself on many occasions with the intention of not leaving any clear instructions to his followers except this: that meditation is the way.

I know it sounds a bit airy-fairy, I thought so too; but the point is, meditation does not mean sitting in the lotus position for hours chanting “aum”. When I do this I just get agitated after a while and then I lose the meditation. Meditation is being aware of what you are doing, regardless of what it is: cleaning the car, cooking food, dancing, making love, having a terrible argument, throwing boots at next door's cat when he is yowling on the fence at three in the morning. It doesn't matter as long as you are aware of what you are doing, that you are doing it deliberately. That way you learn from your own actions and if it doesn't feel good, then you know that it is not your way, and if it feels good or right, then you know that it is good/right. No-one needs to tell you these things; you can find them out for yourself. And when you are really aware, you know already before you take a course of action whether it feels right or not and then you can really exercise your wisdom and judgement. That is meditation and that is why I chose to become a friend of Osho. Notice I didn't say follower; that is because I follow my own wisdom with the guidance of my friend's words.