Watchfulness

In my village there was a very beautiful, old, good man. Everybody loved him; he was so simple and
so innocent, even though he was more than eighty. And by the side of my village flows a river. He
had made a special spot of his own on the river, where he used to take his bath. As far as anybody
in the village could remember, they had always seen him, day in, day out, year in, year out; whether
it was rainy season, summer, winter, made no difference; whether he was sick or healthy made no
difference. He would be there at exactly five o’clock in the morning, on his spot. And that was the
deepest part of the river, so nobody ordinarily used to go there – and it was far away.
People used to go to the river; it was just half a furlong from my house, but that spot was almost two
miles away. And just like our hills surrounding the river, you have to go and pass one mountain, then
another, then another, then you will reach that spot. But it was a beautiful spot. As I became aware
of it I started going there, and we immediately became friends because... you know me, what type
of person I am: if he was going to be there at five, I was going to be there at three. One day, two
days, three days passed; he said, ”What is the matter? Have you decided to defeat me?”
I said, ”No, that is not the point. But I am going to be here at three – just as you have decided to be
here at five.”
He said, ”Do you know how to swim?”
I said, ”I don’t, but you need not worry: if other people can swim, then I can swim. If you can swim,
then what is the problem? One thing is certain: it is humanly possible. That’s enough. At the most I
can be drowned – so what? One day everybody has to die. It does not matter.”
He said, ”You are dangerous. I will teach you how to swim.”
I said, ”No.” I told him, ”You simply sit here and I will jump in. Don’t try to save me if I am dying; even
if I am calling out to you to save me, don’t listen.”
He said, ”What kind of child are you? You will be crying, ’Save me!’ and I am not to save you?”
I said, ”Yes. I will not be crying. I am simply making absolutely sure.... Perhaps when I am drowning,
dying or suffocating, or water is going in my nose and mouth, I may start crying, ’Save me!’ but I
want to be clear: I don’t want to be saved by anybody in any case. Either I will come out knowing
what swimming is or I will go down, knowing that swimming is not for me.”
And before he could stop me, I jumped in. Certainly I had to go two or three times under the water
and come up. And he was standing there, waiting, so that if I called him... but I simply waved my
hand to indicate, ”No, I am not going to call.” Three or four times I went in, down, came up, threw
my arms about haphazardly, because I had no idea how to swim – but what can you do? When you
are drowning you try every possible way you can. And within five minutes I knew the knack. I came
back and I told him, ”You were offering to teach me this – which I can learn within five minutes? I
just had to risk, and accept the fact: at the most it could have meant death.”

Swimming is a knack, it is not an art that anybody has to learn. You have just to be thrown into
water. You are bound to start splashing and throwing your hands and your legs about, and soon you
will find that if you throw your hands and legs about in a harmonious way, in synchronicity, then the
water itself keeps you up.
I had told that old man, ”I have seen dead bodies passing along the river. When a dead man can
swim, do you mean to say to me that I am alive, and I cannot swim? Even the dead man knows the
art!” In the rains, when there were floods, it would happen many times that whole villages would be
taken by the river – many people, dead bodies, dead animals would pass by. So I said, ”Even dead
people go by, fast. And I am alive, so let me have the chance of learning it by myself, because my
feeling is that it is only a knack. What art can there be? It is not craftmanship, or some difficult art
to be understood. All that I see is that people are throwing their hands about – so I can throw mine
about too.”
You have to remember: watching is not some art, some craft, no; it is a knack. All that you have to
remember is, don’t get drowned in the river that is flowing inside. And how do you get drowned in
it? If you become in any way active, you are drowned.
If you remain inactive, passive, not doing anything... alert that, ”I am not supposed to do anything;
the anger is passing, let it pass. Goodbye....” If some thought is going past, good or bad, don’t
bother. Your simple concern is to watch, not to call anything names, not to condemn, because all
those are actions.
Action brings you into the mind. Inaction takes you out of the mind. Action is a bridge between you
and the mind; with inaction the bridge is dropped, you are standing there all alone. And the moment
you are not active, not in any way participating, a miracle is experienced.
It is your participation that gives life to the mind – its thoughts, feelings, emotions – it is your
participation that gives life to it. When you are not participating, they simply disperse, leaving a
pure emptiness: you alone, in your utter aloneness. Time stops. As mind stops, time stops. And
for the first time in your life you see the seer, you observe the observer. You become aware of
awareness, and this is all that religion is about.
But you have to remember the fourth. The three divisions made by three different kinds of people
around the world are not enough. You need the fourth.
And the fourth is simple – watchfulness.

Osho"From unconsciousness to conscicouness"