Osho Speaks on Nadabrahma Meditation
Nadabrahma is a mantra meditation, and mantra is one of the most potential ways. It is very simple yet tremendously effective, because when you chant a mantra or you chant a sound your body starts vibrating; your brain cells particularly start vibrating. […]
In a mantra meditation – Nadabrahma or any chanting – this is how the mechanism works: when you start chanting a sound – and any sound will do; even abracadabra – if you start resounding inside, the body starts responding. Sooner or later a moment comes when the body and the mind are both together in one direction for the first time. When body and mind are both together, you are free from the body and the mind – you are not tom apart. Then the third element which you are in reality – call it soul, spirit, ‘atma’, anything – that third element is at ease because it is not being pulled in different directions.
The body and the mind are so much engrossed in chanting that the soul can slip out of them very easily, unobserved, and can become a witness – can stand out and look at the whole game that is going on between the mind and the body. It is such a beautiful rhythm that the mind and body never become aware that the soul has slipped out . . . because they don’t allow so easily, mm? they keep their possession. Nobody wants to lose his possession. The body wants to dominate the soul, the mind wants to dominate the soul.
This is a very sly way to get out of their hold. They become drunk with the chanting, and you slip out.
So in Nadabrahma, remember this: let the body and mind be totally together, but remember that you have to become a witness. Get out of them, easily, slowly, from the back door, with no fight, with no struggle. Mm? they are drinking – you get out, and watch from the outside . . . This is the meaning of the English word ‘ecstasy’ – to stand out. Stand out and watch from there . . . and it is tremendously peaceful. It is silence, it is bliss, it is benediction.
This is the whole secret of chanting – that’s why chanting has prevailed down the centuries. There has never been a religion that has not used chanting and mantra. But there is a danger also! If you don’t get out, if you don’t become a witness, there is a danger – then you have missed the whole point. If you become drunk with the body and the mind and your soul also becomes drunk, then chanting is an intoxicant. Then it is like a tranquillizer – it will give you a good sleep, that’s all. It is a lullaby. Good – nothing wrong in it – but not of any real value either.
So this is the pitfall to be remembered: chanting is so beautiful that one wants to get lost. If you are lost, then good, you enjoyed a rhythm, an inner rhythm, and it was beautiful and you liked it, but it was like a drug – it is an acid trip. By chanting, by the sound, you created certain drugs in your body. […]
So the point to be remembered is that you have to use the sound, the chanting, the mantra, not as an intoxicant for your being. Let it be an intoxicant for the body and the mind but you slip out of it before you become intoxicated; you stand out and you watch. You see the body swaying and you see the mind feeling very very peaceful and calm and quiet. Watch from the outside and be alert like a flame.
If this is not done you will have a good sleep but nothing more. Then it is a good thing for health but nothing for the ultimate growth. […]
Let the body get drunk, let the mind get drunk, let them fall into a deep love-affair with each other, and you slip out of it. Don’t stay there longer – otherwise you will fall asleep. And if one falls asleep, it is not meditation. Meditation means awareness. So remember it!
-Osho
From The Buddha Disease, Chapter 31
Instructions for Nadabrahma Meditation
Nadabrahma Meditation is a one hour technique in three stages. It has been adapted from an ancient Tibetan method. It can be done any time of the day or night, alone or with others. It is good to do this technique with an empty stomach.
First Stage: 30 minutes
Sit in a relaxed position with eyes closed and lips together. Start humming, loudly enough to be heard by others and create a vibration throughout your body. Feel yourself to be a hollow tube (like a hollow bamboo) or an empty vessel, filled only with the vibrations of the humming. A point will come when the humming continues by itself and you become the listener. There is no special breathing and you can alter your pitch or move your body smoothly and slowly if you feel to.
Second Stage: 15 minutes (7 1/2+7 1/2)
The second stage is divided into two 7 ½ minute sections. For the first half, move the hands, palms up, in an outward circular motion. Starting at the navel, both hands move forwards and then divide to make two large circles mirroring each other, left and right. The movement should be so slow that at times there will appear to be no movement at all. Feel that you are giving energy outwards to the universe.
After 7 ½ minutes turn the hands, palm down, and start moving them in the opposite direction. Now the hands will come together towards the navel and divide outwards to the sides of the body. Feel that you are taking energy in. As in the first stage, don’t inhibit any soft, slow movement of the rest of your body.
Third Stage: 15 minutes
Sitting or lying down remain absolutely quiet and still.
Osho says:
So in Nadabrahma, remember this: let the body and mind be totally together, but remember that you have to become a witness. Get out of them, easily, slowly, from the back door, with no fight, with no struggle.
Here you can watch a short instructional video.
Nadabrahma Meditation is best done with the music that was created specifically for it. You can buy it in either CD or MP3 format from Amazon or you can download it here.
More OSHO Active Meditations:
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