Divine intoxication

Osho on Divine Intoxication

Osho - Deva means divine, madhu means wine, any intoxicant -- divine intoxicant. Man can find god only when he learns how to forget himself. Forgetfulness of oneself is the remembrance of god. You cannot keep both together -- it has to be either you or god. We all are too full of our own selves. We are continuously remembering ourselves, hence it is impossible to remember god; they don't mix. They are like light and darkness. If you want darkness then you cannot bring light in; if you want to bring light in, you have to renounce darkness, you have to lose your love for darkness. The ego is love for darkness; god is light.

We cling to the ego so deeply that we talk about god, but basically we are afraid, frightened of god. If suddenly god comes and knocks on your door and says 'Can I come in?' you will not be able to say 'Yes' immediately; you will say 'I have to think about it.' And you may take lives to think about it, because to allow god in means that you disappear, you will never be found again!

That is the meaning of becoming so intoxicated with god that one forgets oneself. Intoxication is a metaphor for forgetting, for losing one's self. And the greatest experience of life is to lose one's self and yet be conscious. That condition has to be fulfilled. Many people lose the themselves -- in alcohol, in psychedelic drugs, in sex. Many people lose themselves, but just by losing themselves they have not attained anything, maybe a few moments of relaxation, but again the whole misery comes back and the whole hell starts. And it is even worse than it was before, because when you were oblivious of yourself, it was gathering, collecting around you, it was accumulating.

To be intoxicated and to be conscious... then the miracle happens. That cannot be done by ordinary intoxicants, because the moment you are under the impact of alcohol you forget yourself, but you are not conscious either. So self-forgetfulness becomes unconsciousness too.

And that is the whole process of meditation: to help you to become intoxicated and yet keep you alert and awake. A conscious self-forgetfulness -- that is the subtle art of meditation. It is very delicate. It is easy to remember yourself, it is easy to forget yourself, both are easy. Any chemical drug can help and you can forget yourself. The difficult thing is to forget yourself and yet be aware. When there is no self but only the pure light of awareness inside, that is the moment god comes in, that is the preparation. That is when you become ready to receive That is when you become a womb, that is when you become pregnant with the divine.

So this name has to be an indication. It has to be decoded, it has to become your very life style. Drop the self and remain conscious. People are self-conscious. The self has to be dropped and the consciousness has to be raised higher and higher. When there is no self and only consciousness -- that's what meditation is all about -- the door opens and infinite mysteries start flooding in from every direction. From every nook and comer of existence god rushes towards you and fills you. When the self has left, you are empty; now you can be filled. The condition to be filled is to be empty.

Source - Osho Book "The Sacred Yes"