Being loose and natural will give you a spontaneous awareness, rather than making an effort to reach a certain goal. No effort is going to succeed because the cause of all misery is the doer, the ego, our idea of self. Osho only teaches awareness. Suppression is not the way to buddhahood. Simply relax and be whatsoever you are - and awareness will come by itself.

Here Osho responds to questions about whether enjoyment of music, women, sensory perceptions, and all kinds of "worldly things" can interfere with meditation. Religious conditioning certainly urges people to avoid the pleasures of the flesh, but what does Osho have to say about it?

There are three kinds of problems - those that you create – they are almost ninety per cent of the problems of your life. You create them and you go on saying that you don’t want them. Ninety per cent of the problems simply disappear when you are in a meditative state – because you can see. And by seeing, you stop creating them. Ninety per cent will be solved; nine per cent will not be solved by your meditation but will be dissolved because they will not concern you at all.

Osho speaks about George Gurdjieff, one of the most significant masters of this age. He used to say, "You are in prison." If you wish to get out of prison - the first thing you must do is realize that you are in prison...or you are the prison. Osho emphasizes this as something to be always remembered as one of the first principles for any seeker of truth.

Patanjali the founder of ancient yoga has laid out a fascinating understanding of body and mind. Osho brings this ancient system into a contemporary understanding, creating a holistic approach to health and meditation.

Everybody wants change, everybody wants "the situation" to change, because now even the most stupid person can see that something is going off track on our planet and with humanity; whether people personally want to change is a different question. In this series, The Rebellious Spirit, Osho provides a blueprint for a revolution, but a different one than we have known from history. Osho is the first to connect and combine a personal spiritual revolution with a social, global and political revolution. This series intends to trigger "the rebellious spirit" in all of us.

Every morning when you wake up, you become aware and your dreams disappear. You can do the same thing with the endless dreaming of your mind - the dreams that nourish your ego. This capacity to be aware, to witness, is already yours. It is nourished by celebration. Celebration helps you become more sensitive and more alert to life. Don't invest in misery, invest in celebration.

At this time, the beginning of the 21st century, times seem desperate and many call for revolution, even if nobody has a clear idea of the outcome?

Osho speaks about the great harm that all organized religions have done to humanity by dividing man against himself, by creating a division between head and heart. Man has become a split personality fighting with himself and projecting his fight onto the outside world. Osho's meditations are designed to heal these wounds and bring about a return to a natural state of self-integration.

Osho uses Sufi anecdotes as a jumping board into the various aspects of this talk.

In these talks, Osho introduces his audience to Zen, with its emphasis on being alert and attentive to the simplest acts of ordinary life as a way to experience meditation. Zen stories serve as starting points for several talks in the series, illuminating the nature of that rare human capacity to transcend the limits of the rational mind.

When he is asked how to be happy, Osho responds by questioning the very logic of the question. How can wanting to be happy ever lead to happiness? Osho springs back and forth between exploring the neurotic American dream of happiness, and describing what it actually takes to be happy.

Crisis is a very valuable time. When everything is in chaos, nothing is static, nothing is secure. Who knows what is going to happen next? In such a chaotic moment you are free, you can change. You can escape from your inner prison and attain to the innermost core of your being. In times of great crisis enlightenment is more accessible. The time can be used for your individual growth.

Osho responds to questions and speaks about psychological concepts as presented by Freud, Jung, Adler and Assagioli and others, comparing their theories with the Eastern practice of meditation. While psychologist and physicians approach the body and the mind separately as illness, Osho exams the wider human condition and the underlying issue which he calls a "spiritual illness". He points out that every individual longs for freedom and is surrounded by restrictive systems that deny this fundamental right.

We have lost touch with who we are and how we want to live. It started at birth. From birth we are molded according to the beliefs and ideals of others, and our own potential is ignored. It needs immense courage to go your own way, leaving the crowd behind. The moment you do it you are taking responsibility for your life in your own hands. Osho reminds us that it is a step worth taking.

The longing to be who we really are…. Osho explains how we became alienated from our own essence, what it means to live in that disconnect, and how to rediscover our authenticity. Osho delivers a lot in one small talk!

Written more than 25 centuries ago, the Diamond Sutra is the first text to record the Buddha's own teachings, and it remains one of the most popular. Osho comments in a series of talks on these sutras and brings Buddha's teachings into the 21st century. One day, after the Buddha finishes his daily walk to collect alms, a senior monk steps forth to ask how he can best help humanity. Buddha responds, and thus begins a dialogue regarding the nature of perception.

The Heart Sutra, originally a very short set of verses, was given in privacy as a message to one of Buddha's close disciples, Sariputra, specifically addressed to him. Over time the Heart Sutra became one of Buddhism's core teachings. In these 10 talks, Osho presents the powerful message of these ancient words and brings them to a modern audience - one with different minds and needs than the original audiences of Buddha more than 2,500 years ago.

Nirvana has become an idealized word associated with the juxtaposition of a cult rock celebrity who died before his time and a vague new age version of Eastern religion. An altered state to be hoped for but likely unattainable, reinforcing that all too familiar uneasiness associated with never being able to have what we truly desire in life.

“Question your assumptions; lean far into the unknown. Question it all.” So says Adyashanti in The Most Important Thing, Volume 1 - an invitation to look past the surface of our personal stories to discover the timeless truths within. Across eight hours of intimate talks, Adyashanti encourages you to open to the possibility of grace, embrace those aspects of life that call you to serve, and discover the innate vitality in every single moment.

Now, in a fascinating series of reflections, anecdotes, stories, and exercises, Ram Dass gives us a unique and accessible road map for experiencing divinity in everyday life. In the engaging, conversational style that has made his teachings so popular for decades, Ram Dass traces our journey of consciousness as it is reflected in one of Hinduism's most sacred texts. The Gita teaches a system of yogas, or "paths for coming to union with God."

On the surface, this is a biography of an accomplished seeker who mastered the practices of yoga and brought a system for understanding the mysteries of body, mind, and spirit to students in the West. But, like the life of Swami Rama, this audiobook offers more than a sequence of astonishing events. As you read the stories of authentic guru-disciple relationships Swami Rama had both with his master and with his own students, you will see how the spiritual wisdom is transmitted through generations. This book also serves as a guide to advanced practices of yoga and tantra not commonly understood in modern times.

Mark Watts compiled this work from his father's extensive journals and audiotapes of famous lectures he delivered, in his later years, across the country. In three parts Alan Watts explains the basic philosophy of meditation, how individuals can practice a variety of meditations, and how inner wisdom grows naturally.

The Eightfold Path is the most widely known formulation of the Buddha's teaching. It is ancient, reaching back to the Buddha's very first discourse, and it is highly venerated as a unique treasury of wisdom and practical guidance. The teaching of the Eightfold Path challenges us to grasp the implications of that vision, and asks us to transform ourselves in its light. Like the teaching itself, this work covers every aspect of life.

Adyashanti asks us to let go of our struggles with life and open to the full promise of spiritual awakening: the end of delusion and the discovery and expression of our essential being. After 15 years as a spiritual teacher, Adyashanti has found that the simpler the teaching, the greater its power to initiate this awakening. On Falling into Grace, he shares what he considers fundamental insights to "open ourselves to that mysterious element that enters in the hidden and quiet moments and sparks a revolution in the way that we perceive life."

There are pivotal moments in the lives of all seekers when we realize that we've been traveling on our path of growth toward happiness and fulfillment, but, simply put, we want to go faster. How we have been living, working, and loving just isn't enough or even acceptable anymore. We know we're being called to something more significant and expanded - we can feel it. At these times what's needed is not simply more change or an adjustment in our outer life but profound transformation.

In this fascinating audio download, Gary Renard and his Ascended Master Teachers, Arten and Pursah, teach you how to integrate advanced spiritual principles into your everyday life. Doing so leads beyond theory to an experience of the Divine and the undoing of the ego. Your progress will be accelerated to such a degree that, with continued practice, you can't help but stop the need to reincarnate...once and for all. This work elaborates on the teachings of two spiritual classics, The Gospel of Thomas and A Course in Miracles.

Presented in the form of 365 inspirational daily reflections, Gates helps listeners - from experienced yogis to novices seeking a little tranquility - to fundamentally reconsider their relationships with their minds, their bodies, and the universe around them through self-reflection.

Spring Washam is a founder of the East Bay Meditation Center, the most diverse and accessible meditation center in the United States. In A Fierce Heart, she shares her contemporary, unique interpretation of the Buddha's 2,500-year-old teachings that get to the heart of mindfulness, wisdom, and compassion. Woven throughout the book are stories from her life, family, and community, along with soulful and unexpected stories of compassion in action from all over the world.

A 15-year-old boy is walking through a swirling fog on his way to school when a voice calls out, "Come here. We need to talk." Out of the mist emerges an old man with a white beard. He is a fantastic figure, as wizardly as Merlin, as wise as Socrates, as peaceful as Buddha. Whoever he is, the old man has appeared on that very day to change the boy's life. "You are old enough to learn about things," he says mysteriously. "And who is going to teach you but me?" The old man gives the boy four days of "soul training", a time of riddles, tricks, parables, and incredible twists.