The secret of secrets

What is The Secret of Secrets by Osho about?

• Ancient Taoist Wisdom: The book is Osho’s commentary on the Taoist classic The Secret of the Golden Flower, focusing on inner transformation, meditation, and awakening the “golden flower” or inner light.
• Synthesis of Traditions: Osho weaves together Taoist, Buddhist, Christian, and Zoroastrian teachings, highlighting the universality of spiritual truth and the journey from unconsciousness to consciousness.
• Practical Spirituality: The text emphasizes living fully in the present, dropping beliefs and dogmas, and engaging in direct, experiential inquiry into one’s own being.

Why should I read The Secret of Secrets by Osho?

• Accessible Ancient Wisdom: Osho makes esoteric spiritual teachings practical and relevant for modern seekers, reviving oral traditions that were once secret.
• Transformative Meditation Guidance: The book offers active and passive meditation techniques suitable for contemporary life, helping readers release stress and enter states of stillness and bliss.
• Profound Life Insights: Osho addresses fundamental issues like mortality, consciousness, and the nature of self, encouraging readers to live fully and prepare consciously for death.

What are the key takeaways of The Secret of Secrets by Osho?

• Live, Don’t Believe: True religion is a lived experience, not a set of beliefs; drop all preconceived notions and become a sincere inquirer.
• Circulation of Light: The core practice is circulating inner energy, especially through the third eye, leading to individuation, wholeness, and spiritual awakening.
• Balance and Awareness: Spiritual growth requires balancing action and inaction, love and awareness, and integrating both inner and outer life.
• Love and Trust: Love acts as a mirror for self-discovery, but must be complemented by awareness; trust grows through doubt, not by repressing it.

What is the significance of the “Golden Flower” in The Secret of Secrets by Osho?

• Symbol of Awakening: The Golden Flower represents the blossoming of consciousness and the crystallization of inner light, leading to enlightenment and immortality.
• Inner Alchemy: It is the result of harmonizing male (animus) and female (anima) energies within, transcending duality and achieving spiritual unity.
• Stages of Growth: The metaphor describes stages from budding to full flowering, culminating in the appearance of the Buddha within and the realization of one’s true self.

How does Osho define and teach the “circulation of the light” meditation method in The Secret of Secrets?

• Core Technique: The practice involves directing inner energy to circulate within the body, focusing on the third eye (between the eyebrows) to harmonize animus and anima.
• Backward Flow: Emphasizes reversing the usual outward flow of energy, gathering scattered thoughts and transforming them into concentrated awareness.
• Spiritual Effects: Regular practice leads to the crystallization of the self, awakening the “seed-pearl,” and ultimately the blossoming of the Golden Flower, resulting in spiritual illumination and balance.

What is Osho’s view on the ego and its role in suffering and enlightenment in The Secret of Secrets?

• Ego as Illusion: The ego is a bundle of thoughts and the root of suffering, creating a false sense of “I” that separates us from our true nature.
• Obstacle to Enlightenment: Enlightenment is inherent and ever-present, but the ego must be dropped for it to be realized; “when you are not, you are.”
• Compassion and Egolessness: True compassion arises only when the ego disappears, allowing for unconditional love and the dissolution of self-other duality.

How does Osho explain the relationship between love, awareness, and spiritual growth in The Secret of Secrets?

• Love as Mirror: Love is essential for spiritual growth, acting as a mirror that reflects one’s true self and prepares the ground for meditation.
• Polarity with Awareness: Love is outgoing and relational, while awareness is inward and solitary; both are necessary for transcendence and wholeness.
• Frustration as Growth: Love often leads to frustration, which is necessary to turn inward toward awareness and deeper realization.

What does Osho say about belief, doubt, and trust in The Secret of Secrets?

• Belief as Repression: Belief is likened to a drug that represses doubt and creates a closed, imaginary world, blocking genuine inquiry.
• Doubt as Friend: Doubt is essential for spiritual growth, keeping the seeker alert and preventing self-deception.
• Trust Through Doubt: True trust arises from an open, undrugged consciousness that neither believes nor disbelieves, but remains innocent and aware.

How does Osho address societal conditioning and its impact on spirituality in The Secret of Secrets?

• Conditioning as Hypnosis: Society conditions individuals with beliefs and conclusions from childhood, acting like hypnosis and preventing genuine self-knowledge.
• Belief Systems as Prisons: Inherited beliefs create closed worlds and division, making people prisoners of their own minds.
• Call for Pure Inquiry: Osho urges dropping all inherited beliefs and becoming pure inquirers, open to experimentation and truth.

What is the role of the Master and disciple in spiritual enlightenment according to The Secret of Secrets by Osho?

• Master as Catalyst: The Master facilitates the disciple’s awakening, not by providing answers but by provoking inquiry and creating a space for inner transformation.
• Surrender and Receptivity: The disciple must surrender and become receptive to the Master’s presence, allowing for transmission beyond words.
• Beyond Attachment: True enlightenment requires eventually transcending attachment to the Master, embodying freedom and individuality.

How does Osho describe the experience of meditation and the disappearance of thoughts in The Secret of Secrets?

• Thoughts as Shadows: Thoughts are insubstantial and cannot be forcibly removed; trying to suppress them only strengthens their hold.
• Natural Silence: When silence descends naturally, all mental entanglements disappear, leaving a state of pure awareness and unity.
• Loss of Ego: In deep meditation, the duality of observer and observed dissolves, leading to the highest peak of self-knowledge and the experience of “I don’t know.”

What is Osho’s teaching on Tao, non-doing, and living in the present in The Secret of Secrets?

• Tao as Naturalness: Tao is the way of spontaneity, patience, and trust, requiring no effort or practice—just allowing things to happen naturally.
• Unity of Opposites: Tao is the undivided One that gives rise to yin and yang, male and female, which are complementary and necessary for wholeness.
• Non-Doing and Surrender: Meditation is a state of non-doing, where one lets go of will and ego, becoming open and available to existence, and living fully in the here and now.