The fifth question:

Question 5

OSHO, WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHEN YOU SAY, "MEDITATE OVER IT"? PLEASE EXPLAIN IT IN RELATION TO MY PROBLEM OF JEALOUSY?

Veetgyan,

WHEN I say meditate over it, I don't mean think it over, I don't mean concentrate on it, I don't mean contemplate it. When I say meditate over it, I mean watch, be a witness. Whatsoever the problem -- anger, sexuality, jealousy, greed, ego -- whatsoever the problem is, the medicine is the same.

If you suffer from jealousy, just watch how it arises in you, how it grabs you, how it surrounds you, clouds you, how it tries to manipulate you, how it drags you into paths where you never wanted to go in the first place, how finally it creates great frustration in you, how it destroys your energy, dissipates your energy and leaves you very negatively depressed, frustrated. Just watch the whole thing.

And remember not to condemn, because if you condemn you have started thinking. I am not saying condemn it. Just see the facticity of it, without condemnation, without appreciation, without any judgement for or against. Just watch, aloof, distant, as if you have nothing to do with it. Be very scientific in watching.

One of the most important scientific contributions to the world is non-judgemental observation. When a scientist is experimenting he simply experiments without any judgement, without any conclusion. If he has a conclusion already in his mind, that means he is not a scientist; his conclusion will influence the experiment.

One man has written a book.... In America people are very superstitious and afraid of the number thirteen. Even in the hotels you will not find room number thirteen. After twelve comes fourteen, because nobody stays, nobody wants to stay, in the thirteenth room. You will not even find the thirteenth floor -- the whole floor is missing! After the twelfth, they have the fourteenth, because who will want to stay on the thirteenth floor?

One man has written a book, has collected thousands of facts -- that this is not a superstition, this is a truth. He has collected information about all the people who have committed suicide on the date the thirteenth. Of course millions of people murder, commit suicide, on the thirteenth, as much as on the twelfth, as much as on the fourteenth, but he collects only about the thirteenth. And many people commit suicide from the thirteenth floor, and many people commit suicide in room number thirteen. And many things happen -- in the world things are continuously happening. This man had brought his thesis to show me, and I told him, "You have really done a great job!"

He said, "I have been working at it for almost five years." He has gathered millions of facts! He said, "Now who can say that this is superstition?"

I said, "You do one thing more -- it will take five years again -- now you try to find out about number twelve!"

He already had a conclusion: the thirteenth number was wrong, something was evil about it; with that idea he had chosen.

And I said, "Do one thing more -- after you are finished with number twelve, then for five years more you will have to do another experiment: find out how many good things happen on number thirteen. Room number thirteen, the thirteenth storey of the hotel, the thirteenth day of the month -- find out how many good things happen. Only then can your conclusion be of any scientific value. You are already prejudiced."

A Hindu psychologist, Doctor Banaji, came to see me once. He said, "I am trying to scientifically prove that rebirth is a fact and not a hypothesis."

I asked him, "Doctor Banaji, you say you are trying to scientifically prove it?"

He said, "Yes."

I said, "But if you are trying to prove something scientifically, you should not have any conclusion beforehand. You have already accepted the Hindu idea of rebirth. You are working as a Hindu, not as a scientist."

He was so angry, because he had come to me for support for his belief. I said, "I am not saying anything against your belief; I am not saying whether rebirth is a fact or not. All I am saying is this: don't bring science into it. If you bring science into it, then the fundamental law of science is: be an unprejudiced, non-judgemental observer, without any a priori conclusion."

A priori conclusions make you believers, not scientists.

When I say meditate over it, I mean watch. Be a scientist in your inner world. Let your mind be your lab, and you observe -- with no condemnation, remember. Don't say, "Jealousy is bad." Who knows? Don't say, "Anger is bad." Who knows? Yes, you have heard, you have been told, but that is what others say, this is not your experience. And you have to be very existential, experiential: unless your experiment proves it, you are not to say yes or no to anything. You have to be utterly non-judgemental. And then watching jealousy or anger or sex is a miracle.

What happens when you watch without any judgement? You start seeing through and through. Jealousy becomes transparent: you see the stupidity of it, you see the foolishness of it. Not that you have already decided that it is stupid; if you have decided you will miss the whole point. Remember it: I am not saying decide it is stupid, it is foolish. If you decide, you miss the whole point.

You simply go without any decision, just to see what exactly it is. What is this jealousy? What is this energy called jealousy? And watch it as you watch a rose flower -- just look into it. When there is no conclusion your eyes are clear; the clarity is attained only by those who have no conclusions. Watch, look into it, and it will become transparent, and you WILL come to know that it is stupid. And knowing its stupidity, it drops of its own accord. You don't need to drop it.

Mrs. Weissman had her portrait painted. When it was finished, the artist presented it to her. "How do you like it?" he asked.

"It's nice," answered Mrs. Weissman, "but I want you should add a gold bracelet on each wrist; a pearl necklace, ruby earrings, an emerald tiara, and on each finger I want you to put a twenty-carat diamond ring!"

"But," said the bewildered artist, "why do you want to ruin a good picture with all those gaudy trinkets?"

"My husband is running around with a young chippie," explained Mrs. Weissman, "and when I die, I want her to go crazy looking for the jewelry."

Just look into your jealousy and you will see how it drives you crazy! Seeing it, sanity arises -- just seeing it!

I am not saying renounce jealousy. Those who say renounce jealousy don't understand a thing. I am saying: look, watch, meditate, and if it is stupid it will drop -- because how can you carry anything stupid with yourself? But its stupidity has to be your own experience. If it is not your own, then you will only repress, you will condemn. You will not look into it. You will throw it into the basement of your unconscious and there it will boil, and there it will grow. And the growth is more dangerous because it will be growing underground. It will become a cancerous growth, it will spread all over your life. And you will wait simply for the opportunity: it will explode sooner or later. Any day it will explode, and it will destroy you.