Words: Focus on the meaning

Buddha used to ask his disciples to do a certain meditation: “Go to the street and watch everybody passing by, coming and going on the street. See exactly what is happening. Don’t listen to their words because they are very cunning, they have become very deceptive. Listen to the meaning.”

It is hard to believe that these words were uttered 2,500 years ago. They sound so contemporary that they might have been said just last week. In fact, they are as applicable to today’s modern, intellectual, word-drunken humanity as they must have been back then.

So the point is, look deeper into things. People may use the same words but they don’t use them with the same meaning. Listen to the meaning rather than only listening to the words. If all you listen to is the words you will never understand people. Our words come from the intellect, from the personality, which has often become so fake that we don’t mean what we say.

Scientists tell us that words carry bioelectric energy, so the depth of meaning is proportionate to the depth of the speaker.

If the speaker is a sincere and heart-oriented person he will speak few words with profound meaning, and convey everything through his body language, his eyes, his warmth, and through facial expressions. You will be naturally drawn to this person.

And how that will be helpful in your own inner growth, one may ask. The next step, which makes this meditation complete, is supplied by Osho: “This will be very helpful for your own inner growth and observing your own change of gears. Just watch people. It is easier to watch people than to watch yourself, in the beginning, because people are more objective, and there is a little distance between you and them. And you can be more objective about people because you are not involved in them.” Amrit Sadhana is editor Osho Times International. She facilitates meditation workshops based on Osho insights around the country and abroad.