WHAT IS AWARENESS? By osho

WHAT IS AWARENESS? By osho

There is much difference between awareness and witnessing. Witnessing is still an act; you are doing it, the ego is there. So the phenomenon of witnessing is divided between the subject and the object.

Witnessing is a relationship between subject and object.

Awareness is absolutely devoid of any subjectivity or objectivity. There is no one who is witnessing in awareness;

there is no one who is being witnessed.

Awareness is a total act, integrated;

the subject and the object are not related in it; they are dissolved. So awareness doesn't mean that anyone is aware, nor does it mean that anything is being attended to.

Awareness is total -- total subjectivity and total objectivity as a single phenomenon -- while in witnessing a duality exists between subject and object. Awareness is non-doing; witnessing implies a doer. But through witnessing awareness is possible, because witnessing means that it is a conscious act; it is an act, but conscious. You can do something and be unconscious --

our ordinary activity is unconscious activity -- but if you become conscious in it, it becomes witnessing. So from ordinary unconscious activity to awareness there is a gap that can be filled by witnessing.
Witnessing is a technique, a method toward awareness. It is not awareness, but, as compared to ordinary activity, unconscious activity, it is a higher step

Something has changed: activity has become conscious, unconsciousness has been replaced by consciousness.

 But something more still has to be changed.

That is, the activity has to be replaced by inactivity.

That will be the second step.
It is difficult to jump from ordinary, unconscious action into awareness. It is possible but arduous, so a step in between is helpful. If one begins by witnessing conscious activity, then the jump becomes easier -- the jump into awareness without any conscious object, without any conscious subject, without any conscious activity at all. This doesn't mean that awareness isn't consciousness; it is pure consciousness, but no one is conscious about it.
There is still a difference between consciousness and awareness. Consciousness is a quality of your mind, but it is not your total mind. Your mind can be both conscious and unconscious, but when you transcend your mind, there is no unconsciousness and no corresponding consciousness. There is awareness.
Awareness means that the total mind has become aware. Now the old mind is not there, but there is the quality of being conscious. Awareness has become the totality; the mind itself is now part of the awareness. We cannot say that the mind is aware; we can only meaningfully say that the mind is conscious. Awareness means transcendence of the mind, so it is not the mind that is aware.

It is only through transcendence of the mind, through going beyond mind, that awareness becomes possible.
Consciousness is a quality of the mind, awareness is the transcendence; it is going beyond the mind. Mind, as such, is the medium of duality, so consciousness can never transcend duality. It is always conscious of something, and there is always someone who is conscious. So consciousness is part and parcel of the mind, and mind, as such, is the source of all duality, of all divisions, whether they are between subject and object, activity or inactivity, consciousness or unconsciousness. Every type of duality is mental. Awareness is nondual, so awareness means the state of no mind.
Then what is the relationship between consciousness and witnessing? Witnessing is a state, and consciousness is a means toward witnessing. If you begin to be conscious, you achieve witnessing. If you begin to be conscious of your acts, conscious of your day-to-day happenings, conscious of everything that surrounds you, then you begin to witness.
Witnessing comes as a consequence of consciousness. You cannot practice witnessing; you can only practice consciousness. Witnessing comes as a consequence, as a shadow, as a result, as a byproduct. The more you become conscious, the more you go into witnessing, the more you come to be a witness. So consciousness is a method to achieve witnessing.

And the second step is that witnessing will become a method to achieve awareness.
So these are the three steps: consciousness, witnessing, awareness. But where we exist is the lowest rank: that is, in unconscious activity. Unconscious activity is the state of our minds.
Through consciousness you can achieve witnessing, and through witnessing you can achieve awareness, and through awareness you can achieve "no achievement." Through awareness you can achieve all that is already achieved. After awareness there is nothing; awareness is the end.
Awareness is the end of spiritual progress; unawareness is the beginning. Unawareness means a state of material existence. So unawareness and unconsciousness are not both the same. Unawareness means matter. Matter is not unconscious; it is unaware.
Animal existence is an unconscious existence; human existence is a mind phenomenon -- ninety-nine percent unconscious and one percent conscious. This one percent consciousness means you are one percent conscious of your ninety-nine percent unconsciousness. But if you become conscious of your own consciousness, then the one percent will go on increasing, and the ninety-nine percent unconsciousness will go on decreasing.
If you become one hundred percent conscious, you become a witness, a sakshi. If you become a sakshi, you have come to the jumping point from where the jump into awareness becomes possible.

In awareness you lose the witness and only witnessing remains: you lose the doer, you lose the subjectivity, you lose the egocentric consciousness. Then consciousness remains, without the ego. The circumference remains without the center.
This circumference without the center is awareness. Consciousness without any center, without any source, without any motivation, without any source from which it comes -- a "no source" consciousness -- is awareness.
So you move from the unaware existence that is matter, prakriti, towards awareness. You may call it the divine, the godly, or whatever you choose to call it. Between matter and the divine, the difference is always of consciousness.

osho-Path of meditation

Two Nationalisms: Women Bodies are Caught up In-between

Two Nationalisms (Oppress and Being Oppressed):

Women Bodies are Caught up In-between

The recent war in Sri Lanka illustrates how human bodies particularly women's bodies are turned into objects. On the one hand, the Sri Lankan military tortured and killed the Tamils and raped many women to invade the land where Tamil speaking humans are majority. On the other hand, the raped and dead bodies of Tamil women were used by the Tamil diaspora in their online media to further their nationalist propaganda. Both of them used women’s bodies as sexual objects and as a representation of Tamil nation.  This shows that even though Sri Lankan and Tamil nationalist movements differ in their nationalist perspectives, their entire gaze is based on a patriarchal, heterosexist and racist standpoint which dominate these nationalist movements. The hegemonic power of these ideas constructs women as objects, secondary human beings and sexualized bodies. Following this argument, my paper shows how Tamil women have been reduced to and used as objects, in particular as sexualized objects, by both nationalist movements.

The motivation for this essay was an uncensored YouTube clip (http://youtu.be/DMKJaJH9BR8) and other war pictures which show the killing of Tamils by the Sri Lankan military. This clip and the pictures urge the discussion of how women’s bodies are gazed and used. In the book, Imperial Leather, Ann McLintock ( ) argues that white women are “ambiguously complicit,” in a complex social status as both oppressors and oppressed, privileged and restricted, and acted upon and acting (6). As a South Asian diasporic brown man, I also exist in a similar complex and conflict situation much like white women in their societies. The exception for me is that I am not a colonizer; rather I am colonized as a patriarchal heteronormative man. This is what Kimberle Crenshaw ( ) defines as intersectional identity (202) which is the multiple identities of a person who is privileged, underprivileged, oppressor and being oppressed. For example, I have many identities based on sex, gender, class and sexual and racial identity which are imposed by the society. I also have my own identity which I define for myself. However, in general, on one hand, as a man, I am privileged, particularly in the Tamil societies. But on the other hand, as a Tamil in Sri Lanka or as a brown diasporic human being in a North American white society , I am underprivileged.

With my intersectional identity, as a human, man, Tamil and feminist, I have some questions: does the person who was taking the video, and do I, as an observer, have the same gaze when looking at the dead and nude body of the female? Arguably, the person who took this video was a Sri Lankan military personnel and certainly the person was a man who gaze at this woman’s body from a patriarchal and racist standpoint. Then I looked at within myself and asked how am I looking at this woman’s body and is there any difference from the army person’s? I understood that, as both of us as men, we have a similar patriarchal standpoint of viewing a nude woman’s body, even though it was a dead body. However, both of us as different races or ethnic group have different feelings about the woman. Having been born and growing up in Tamil society, I identified myself with her race and her ethnic group and therefore, felt that she was part of the Tamil society. Hopefully, Sri Lankan army personal felt differently since he was a Sinhalese with a domination of Sinhala racist nationalist hegemonic ideology. In addition, as a feminist, I should question how Tamil nationalists are using these dead bodies, unconsciously from a patriarchal point of view, against the Sri Lankan government (GOSL) for the crimes they committed during the war. Why we as men gaze at women like this or as invaders rape and kill them, or as nationalist use them?

Patriarchy and nationalism, in general, represent and reduce “other” bodies, particularly women’s bodies, as matters and objects and also use them to represent a nation and its culture. Social scientists and feminists argue that human bodies and their sex, gender and sexual identities have been socially constructed as binary oppositions as a result of patriarchal heterosexual ideology (King, 275; Vance, 30).   In public spaces, for example, in a war situation or in a factory, all the human bodies including men’s and women’s are used and reduced to objects by the people who have power over them .  However, in both public and private spaces women are typically used and reduced to objects. The reason for this is that the hegemonic power of patriarchal heteronormative male gaze is common all over the world. However, it does not matter whether they are the oppressors or being oppressed, men (and women) see human bodies, particularly women’s bodies,   as “other”, and as objects that they can also used.  These men’s gazes and attitudes can be seen in the recent war which ended without any solution in Sri Lanka two years back.

Sri Lankan societies are divided by nationality, ethnicity, race, language, culture, caste and religion. In addition, it is also divided by sex and gender. The main conflict is that Sinhalese and Tamil societies (f.n.1) are divided as two nations in a single country, Sri Lanka. As Cynthia Enloe argues, they “have been shaped by a common past and destined to share a common future…and nurtured by a common language…and nationalism fostering those beliefs…” (222).  Nira Yuval-Davis  (2006)  extends this argument by stating that this “hegemonic national collectivity” constructs a particular ethnic group that is different and distinguishable from the “other.” (217). However, as she argues, some communities are not part of the “hegemonic national community” (Yuval-Davis, 1997, 7). Similarly, Tamil communities have been not recognized as a part of Sri Lankan Sinhala Buddhist hegemonic national community. Even Tamil communities do not want to identify themselves under the Sinhala Buddhist hegemonic national identity. This created ethnic conflict in the country. Therefore, Tamils have been fighting for their self determination right, political aspirations, and dignity and respect for their race and ethnical identity.

In Sri Lanka, as Enloe argues, both groups are victims of colonization. The country had many kingdoms but after the colonization, it was united and ruled under one administration. It led to construct Sinhala Buddhist hegemonic ideology in the country after colonizers had left. Symbolically the name of the country was changed from Ceylon to Sri Lanka. The result of this, as she argues, one of them [Sinhala Nationalists] have been the perpetrator of [Sinhala] racism while others [Tamils] have been its victims (Enloe, 222).  Since then, Tamil speaking human beings have been discriminated against and affected by this Sinhala racist state and its government. On the other hand, this does not mean Tamils do not exhibit racism. Even though Tamils are minorities and have less power within the supremacy of Sinhala nation, Tamil nationalists not only have racist attitudes against Sinhala people, but they also discriminate against other minorities such as Muslims within the Tamil communities. However, these difference does not give the right to anyone to oppress or carryout a war against Tamil-speaking human beings. 

The differences between these two nations, cultures, or ethnic groups have nonetheless been used to legitimize the ethnic conflict and war against Tamil societies. Therefore, the ethnic conflict between the Sinhala and Tamil societies became predominant. Sri Lankan governments have perpetuated this conflict through acts of racial discrimination, oppression, violence and war against Tamil-speaking societies in Sri Lanka. This discrimination and oppression led the Tamil youth or “boys” to begin an armed struggle against the Sri Lankan military in the late 1970s (Ismail, 1678). As a witness to the uprising of Tamil struggle, I knew, it included many Tamil armed groups, mostly men, from the middle and lower classes and also from various castes with different ideological backgrounds, at least in their political manifestos. Therefore, it is difficult to agree with Qadri Ismail’s claim that the Tamil boys were only from the upper class and upper caste which is a contradiction to my own experience (1677). However, in the struggle, as Enloe points out that, “When a nationalist movement becomes militarized… male privilege in the community usually becomes more entrenched” (225). This was no exception for the Tamil national liberation struggle also because Tamil people believed in the beginning that “our boys” or “movement’s boys” were going to fight and get freedom for them. Even though, there were few girls in the liberation movements but no one referred them as “our girls” or “movement girls”

Some of the rebel groups were not only conscious about caste and class struggle, but also about women’s struggle and they had their own women’s wings in their groups. It was reported by EPRLF that first female (child) combatant (Shobha alias Mathivathani ) was killed when attacking the Sri Lankan navy camp in Karainagar in 1985. However, in the beginning, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE/Tigers) were reluctant to recruit girls and women since they were dominated by patriarchal ideas and respected its cultural values more than other Tamil groups. However, there was a need of human power for the movement and the availability of women led them to recruit many girls and women into their armed groups. The Tigers group was one of the last groups to recruit them. There were many reasons for the recruitment, but it was not necessarily out of concern for women’s liberation or because of a feminist standpoint. Moreover, LTTE was neither a terrorists nor a Marxist group, as some intellectuals such as Georegina Nieves assert (9).

One of the reasons that the LTTE recruited women could be similar to what happened during the First and Second World War in the West: there were many men who went to fight, which led to a shortage of laborers to work and produce goods for use in the war, and women were used to fill that vacuum. In the same way, the Tigers also lacked men, but were aware of many women who were there with an urge to fight and an awareness of women’s freedom (Ismail 1768). Feizal Samath, Qadri Ismail, Georgina Nieves reported that the reason women participated in the movement might be because they believed that the rebels would give them freedom and respect their equality (ipsnews.net, 2010; 1678; 12). Therefore, women were willing to participate in the struggle as combatants.   As a result, Samath writes, “females were welcomed into the Tiger fold; young, shy village girls turned into spirited young women, dressed in trousers and shirts, and carrying guns with authority” (ipsnews.net, 2010).

However, Feizal Samath supports this by providing the example of Adele Balasingham, who was a British white woman married to Anton Balasingham, who was the spokesperson for the Tigers. She was seen seated along with her husband speaking as an equal. Samath also adds that this kind of scene could not be seen in Tamil society and therefore, Tamil women were attracted by this and believed in it (ipsnews.net, 2010). However, Samath’s argument is patronizing and he forgets two things. First, he was not aware of Tamil women’s own awareness of their liberation and participation in the struggle, even before Adele Balasingham came onto the scene. Second, he lacks critical scrutiny and sees her only as a woman but forgets to see as a representative of whiteness and has privilege in these colonized societies. However, this criticism of Samath does not negate his insight that she made a contribution for the struggle. As Ruth Frankenberg points out, whiteness has a particular place in the social structure and has its own privileges even though location varies (2-3). Because of this representation of whiteness, Adele Balasingham has some kind of respect and power compared to not only Tamil women but Tamil men as well. This is because of the unconscious mind of Tamil society which is still being colonized and therefore respecting their former masters. This is similar to Fanon’s arguments about whether a black man or a white woman enjoys more power in a colonized society. However, Samath agrees that what Tamil women were imagining or expecting was an illusion within Tamil national liberation (ipsnews.net, 2010).

Nimmi Gowrinathan points out that it is difficult to say what motivates women to participate in the rebel movements even though the increase of their participation globally is from 20% to 40% in the last decade. Women participants cannot easily be reached directly to confirm the reasons for their participation (37). However, Alisa Stack-O'Connor says that there were many reasons influenced the Tigers’ decision to recruit women into the group such as “tactical advantage against the GOSL, demographics, completion with other groups, and women’s demand for more active involvement in the group” (47-49 ). More important than all of these, the Sri Lankan government and their military’s brutality also intensified and, as Stack-O'Connor (49) points out, women became fearful of rape and sexual assault (49). Rape, torture and sexual assault against women have been sexualized tools regularly used in patriarchal wars. For these reasons, women were ready to participate in the struggle as combatants, even though, as Enloe argues, “most women’s past experiences and strategies for the future are not made on the basis of the nationalism, they are urged to support…” (222). It means that women’s liberation is not part of the nationalist struggle and which is not strategized based on feminism or women’s issues. As a result, Enloe’s argument was supported since women have been facing many problems during the Tamil national struggle: before the war, during the war, at end of the war, and in the war’s aftermath.

 Mclintock argues that race and gender have an intimate relationship (4). She continues that there are five major ways in which women have been implicated in nationalism: “as biological reproducers; as protectors of the boundaries of the nation; as active transmitters and producers of the national culture; as symbols of national difference and as active participants in the national struggle” (355). Inaddition, Nira Yuval-Davis argues that nationalism constructs “us” and “them” and uses women as symbolic “border guards” (219). In a war against another country or nation, women are one of the important targets, even before the land is occupied, they were raped and killed and this shows that oppressors have taken the control of “others” property. In addition, the nationalists also call their land as motherland which shows, as Edward Said argued, that “land is feminized” (Mclintock 14).  Moreover, “women” are as the boundary markers of ethnic/ racial community in the “host” of a nation (Mclintock 70; Gopinath 18). Furthermore, “women are…threshold figures. They facilitate the male plot… but they are not the agents of change. Nor are they conceivable heirs to political power” (Mclintock 70). This is how heteronormative patriarchal society not only constructs sex, gender and sexuality in a society with the hierarchal order and power but also women as objects by comparing to their land; as a representation of the nation and their responsibilities and status in a society.

  In general, the patriarchal gaze makes men to see women in a sexualized and objectified way. Therefore, men fantasize about women in terms of these men’s needs or wants.  In addition, Audre Lorde  says that because of the domination of sexist ideology,  men, think that they can dominate women (115). That is why, on the one hand, as Yuval-Davis   argues, “women … symbolize the national collectivity, its roots, its sprit, its national project. Moreover, … collective “honour” … [and they] can also signify ethnic and cultural boundaries” (219).  On the other hand, as Stuart Hall argues how Saatijt (Sarah) Baartman’s body was reduced to an object and her sexual body parts were used in exhibitions by colonizers in early 1800s (42-43). Still, even 200 year later, (Tamil) women’s bodies have been similarly sexualized, objectified and exhibited as mentioned earlier in the YouTube video and other picture depictions. That is why not only when women are alive but even after death, they are gazed upon, used, and treated as (sexualized) objects in patriarchal societies. In addition, McClinntock argues that women in general are reduced as reproducing machines because of hegemony of bio-power over women’s bodies (4). This shows that these women’s bodies are considered second class which is lower to men and they are also racialized. This encourages violence against women and makes it socially acceptable.

The depictions of dead bodies show that human bodies are used as objects and representations of a nation. It does not matter whether they, who kill the people, are Sinhalese or American, or Taliban or even Tamil militants, all have similar view and attitude towards the human body. As Stuart Hall argues, visual images and popular representation have been and continue to be deeply political. They do not simply reflect reality (428, 259). The video clip and pictures show that they are not just human bodies but they are racialzed as Tamil bodies, sexualized as women’s bodies and depicted as representation of the Tamil nation. That is why they were humiliated by Sri Lankan military. In addition, it also shows Tamil men’s patriarchal view about women’s bodies when they used it for their political propaganda.

The Sri Lankan military and Tamil (diasporas) media both see women and their bodies from a patriarchal stand point, but from different perspectives.  Both of them see these women as representatives of the Tamil nation. In addition, both gaze at and represent (Tamil) women as objects and also reduce them to soulless matter and use them. Nevertheless, they use them in different ways for their specific patriarchal and nationalist purposes. Therefore, Tamil women continue to be used as objects by both sides in the name of nationalism. As a result, women become the literal and figurative battleground on which ethnic nationalist ideologies play out (Gopinath 175).

The Sri Lankan military tortured, raped and killed Tamil women to show that they had occupied Tamil land, the motherland, by controlling their women. In addition, they represent Tamil women as sexualized and racialized bodies. Therefore, they also have used Tamil women to be gazed upon, killed, tortured, and raped as sexual objects and as representatives of the Tamil nation. For example, one of the Sri Lankan military personnel says pointing to the vagina of the dead woman’s body that “it is a good stuff” and another one says “shoot on the breast” (see the youtube) and another one says, the dead body “is still warm”.  This show how Sri Lankan military men gaze at Tamil women as racialized and sexualized body during the war.

On the other hand, what the Tamil nationalists did was not much better (f.n.2).  They also used these nude pictures and YouTube without censoring them when they were released first time to propagandize for their own course of punishing the Sri Lankan government for their war crimes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QckiYi_N6rQ). (However, later everyone censored them). Tamil societies, particularly Tamil nationalist men, have the control of Tamil media and used and treated these women and their dead bodies as objects to represent their Tamil nation in their media. This shows as Gayatri Gopinath point outs that the diasporic nationalism is predicated on the notion of women’s bodies as communal property (163). However, it is not limited to diasporic nationalism even though they have more concern about their cultural values but in their country of origin too. During the Tamil nationalist struggle and war time, the dead bodies whether they were Tamils or Sinhalese were used to represent their nation and humiliated or respected according to their space and nation.

Tamil nationalists who are fighting for their freedom have a double standard when it comes to women’s issues. On the one hand, they have to fight for their freedom and use these images to punish the people who are responsible for this genocide. On the other hand, they are also using these images at least unconsciously from a patriarchal gaze and reducing women to objects. Therefore women particularly oppressed women suffer more by wedged between two men and their hegemonic patriarchal nationalistic standpoints.

In addition to being racist, both Sinhala and Tamil societies are typically traditional, patriarchal, heteronormative, and sexually repressive societies and have a conservative standpoint, particularly with regard to sex, gender and sexuality issues. Therefore, they are characterized by sex, gender and sexual discrimination and assign gender roles based on each sex like other societies (De Alwis, 676). As Edward Said (Eng, 2001, 190) figured out, one hand, women are agents of biological reproduction to cultural reproduction.  On the other hand, women are expected to be reproductive because of their cultural values which they must follow and respect. It is as if they are in a recycle system. In addition, in a South Asian society, male children are preferred over female; girls must be virgins before they marry; chastity is only required for women, but not for men. Brides’ families have to give dowries if their daughter wants to marry a man. However, the values of dowry depend on the man’s status in the societies. Furthermore, women who cannot conceive or who are widows are not respected and also not given important place in most social and family functions.

Therefore, in a national liberation struggle, women are stuck between both men oppressors and the oppressed (Ismail 1677). In the oppressed nationalistic standpoints, women are responsible for producing children, particularly male, to continue the national struggle and they are also responsible for representing their nation in the name of tradition and culture which are mostly based on patriarchal standpoints. Therefore, in the gaze of oppressors who have hegemonic nationalistic racist standpoints, women are the main and first targets when they invade the other nation. That is why, Enloe argues that for women “living as a nationalist feminist is one of the most difficult political projects in today’s world” (223).

In addition, Nira Yuval-Davis argues that gender roles play an important role in cultural

representation and mostly women are implicated with patriarchal nationalistic standpoints (218). Even though most nationalist liberation struggles are not class struggles, they are democratic struggles. However, (at least for Tamil liberationists) the struggles have been led mostly by patriarchs. Therefore, women are used as combatants and for other services, but have been limited in their power and space and cultural values which are mostly patriarchal and fundamentalist.   Because of this conflict and the lack of proper empowerment about women’s issues in the Tamil society, former women rebels face many problems when they come back to normal life. Like all other societies which struggled for a national liberation, Tamil society also did not welcome and accept former Tamil women rebels after the end of the war. The evidence for the patriarchal standpoints of the Tamil Nation over women fighters can be seen through the ways in which these women have been treated by Tamil society since the so called end of the war. One of the UN reports says that it is difficult for them to get a job or adapted to society again, even when they are willing to do so, because of the patriarchal social stigma against them (2011). The reason is, Tamil societies and their culture function as a barrier for the former women rebels to come back to normal life.

The societies follow traditional customs according to which women are not equal to men in every ways. These rebel women are considered as undisciplined and disobedient women who are not suitable for family life. In addition as Nira Yuval-Davis argues that it is also related to their sexual behavior (220) because these women are not going to be obedient and always be in passive and listen to their men as they were before or like their mothers or the way society expect them to live. Therefore, these former rebels, once up on a time rebel hero’s of liberation struggle, are degraded to lower level than other Tamil women in the society.                                           To wrap up, the construction of a human body as a matter without soul and the social construction of the “other,” make it easy for people to kill. In addition, the construction of “other” makes it easier for people not only kill but also torture and rape the “other”.  Judith Butler argues that ‘sex’ is an ideal construct which is forcibly materialized through time… [and]…achieve this materialization through a forcible reiteration of those norms” (1,2)  She continues that “as a process of materialization that stabilizes over time to produce the effect of boundary, fixity, and surface we call matter” (9). In the picture, we can see a person with a weapon in his hands ready to kill the person. In the video they repeatedly killed many people without any hesitation. The people in both video and picture belong to a particular group, race or ethnicity or nationality who can be an American, Taliban, Indian, or Sri Lankan or even Tamils. In these ways, the video and photos might represent what has been happening until now around the world.  For example, if it is viewed in a global context as, it can be, before 1950s the person who has the weapon might be a colonizer from Europe and the “other” might be a colonized person somewhere in Africa or Asia, or since the 1960s, an American or NATO soldier in Vietnam, Iraq, or Afghanistan, or Soviet soldier in Eastern European countries, or after 1983 Sri Lankan soldier and a Tamil rebel, or Tamil militant and a Tamil civilian or a rebel from a different rebel groups and so on. Why is this happening? Just a simple reason is that the construction of “other” by the people who have the power. This construction of “other” has been rooted deeper within ourselves in different forms such as civilized and uncivilized or primitive, white and black,  Tamils and Sinhalese, men and women and heterosexuality and homosexuality and so on.

In conclusion, we fight for our freedom and on the other hand we also deny or oppress at least unconsciously “others.” This particular essay may be relevant to the Tamils and Sinhalese and their men and women, but can be read by white men and women, black men and women and so on. Every one of them who read it, are on the one hand oppressed on many levels for many reason in many spaces and a time. On the other hand, they are also oppressors in many spaces and levels in their societies. Most of us are concerned only about the oppression which we are facing, but are not aware or care about the oppression we are responsible for. For example, as Tamil men, we blame the Sri Lankan government for their oppression, but we “forget” or are not aware of what we are doing to the women in the Tamil societies or so called lower caste people. These same behaviors we can see in Sinhala people, white people even in Black people, and so on too. What we are not aware of is our intersectional identity of being oppressors and oppressed.   Therefore, developing more awareness is one of the ways to get rid of these conflicts. To end, Rajini Thiranagama once argued that, “if nationalism is a type of aggressive patriotism, then a concept of women’s liberation would be working against the inner core of such a struggle” (Ismail 1678). In addition, Cynthia Enloe points out that “if… [women are critical of patriarchal practices and attitudes and] a gendered tension will develop within the national community. This could produce a radically new definition of “the nation” (Ismail 1678). Therefore, this essay is not to blame who are responsible for the negative actions in the struggle or war but to interrogate our past actions and thoughts for the future struggle in better, developed and progressive standpoints.

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Yuval-Davis, N.  (1997). Women, Citizenship and Difference. Feminist Review, 57,

Citizenship: Pushing the Boundaries. (Autumn, 1997), pp. 4-27.

f.n:      1- Not considering Sinhala and Tamil people are one society but as many societies.

           2. even there was a Sri Lankan soldier covered the nude bodies.

The Need for Chaotic Methods - osho

Traditional methods are systematic because the people in earlier times for whom they were developed were different. Modern man is a very new phenomenon. No traditional method can be used exactly as it exists, because modern man never existed before. So, in a way, all traditional methods have become irrelevant.

For example, the body has changed so much. It is not as natural now as it was in the days when Patanjali developed his system of Yoga. It is absolutely different. It is so drugged that no traditional method can be helpful.

In the past, medicine was not allowed to Hatha yogis, absolutely not allowed, because chemical changes will not only make the methods difficult but harmful. But the whole atmosphere is artificial now: the air, the water, society, living conditions. Nothing is natural. You are born in artificiality; you develop in it. So traditional methods will prove harmful today. They will have to be changed according to the modern situation.

Another thing: the quality of the mind has basically changed. In Patanjali’s days, the center of the human personality was not the brain; it was the heart. Before that, it was not even the heart. It was still lower, near the navel. Hatha Yoga developed methods which were useful, meaningful, to the person whose center of personality was the navel. Then the center became the heart. Only then could Bhakti Yoga be used. Bhakti Yoga developed in the Middle Ages because that is when the center of personality changed from the navel to the heart.

A method has to change according to the person to whom it is applied. Now, not even Bhakti Yoga is relevant. The center has gone even further from the navel. Now, the center is the brain. That is why teachings like those of Krishnamurti have appeal. No method is needed, no technique is needed — only understanding. But if it is just a verbal understanding, just intellectual, nothing changes, nothing is transformed. It again becomes an accumulation of knowledge.

I use chaotic methods rather than systematic ones because a chaotic method is very helpful in pushing the center down from the brain. The center cannot be pushed down through any systematic method because systemization is brain work. Through a systematic method, the brain will be strengthened; more energy will be added to it.

Through chaotic methods the brain is nullified. It has nothing to do. The method is so chaotic that the center is automatically pushed from the brain to the heart. If you do my method of Dynamic Meditation vigorously, unsystematically, chaotically, your center moves to the heart. Then there is a catharsis. A catharsis is needed because your heart is so suppressed, due to your brain. Your brain has taken over so much of your being that it dominates you. There is no place for the heart, so the longings of the heart are suppressed. You have never laughed heartily, never lived heartily, never done anything heartily. The brain always comes in to systematize, to make things mathematical, and the heart is suppressed.

So firstly, a chaotic method is needed to push the center of consciousness from the brain toward the heart.

Then catharsis is needed to unburden the heart, to throw off suppressions, to make the heart open. If the heart becomes light and unburdened, then the center of consciousness is pushed still lower; it comes to the navel. The navel is the source of vitality, the seed source from which everything else comes: the body and the mind and everything.

I use this chaotic method very considerately. Systematic methodology will not help now, because the brain will use it as its own instrument. Nor can just the chanting of bhajans help now, because the heart is so burdened that it cannot flower into real chanting. Chanting can only be an escape for it; prayer can only be an escape. The heart cannot flower into prayer because it is so overburdened with suppressions. I have not seen a single person who can go deep into authentic prayer. Prayer is impossible because love itself has become impossible.

Consciousness must be pushed down to the source, to the roots. Only then is there the possibility of transformation. So I use chaotic methods to push the consciousness downward from the brain.

Whenever you are in chaos, the brain stops working. For example, if you are driving a car and suddenly someone runs in front of you, you react so suddenly that it cannot be the work of the brain. The brain takes time. It thinks about what to do and what not to do. So whenever there is a possibility of an accident and you push the brake, you feel a sensation near your navel, as if it were your stomach that is reacting. Your consciousness is pushed down to the navel because of the accident. If the accident could be calculated beforehand, the brain would be able to deal with it; but when you are in an accident, something unknown happens. Then you notice that your consciousness has moved to the navel.

If you ask a Zen monk, “From where do you think?” he puts his hands on his belly. When Westerners came into contact with Japanese monks for the first time they could not understand. “What nonsense! How can you think from your belly?”

But the Zen reply is meaningful. Consciousness can use any center of the body, and the center that is nearest to the original source is the navel. The brain is furthest away from the original source, so if life energy is moving outward, the center of consciousness will become the brain. And if life energy is moving inward, ultimately the navel will become the center.

Chaotic methods are needed to push the consciousness to its roots, because only from the roots is transformation possible. Otherwise you will go on verbalizing and there will be no transformation. It is not enough just to know what is right. You have to transform the roots; otherwise you will not change.

When a person knows the right thing and cannot do anything about it, he becomes doubly tense. He understands, but he cannot do anything. Understanding is meaningful only when it comes from the navel, from the roots. If you understand from the brain, it is not transforming.

The ultimate cannot be known through the brain, because when you are functioning through the brain you are in conflict with the roots from which you have come. Your whole problem is that you have moved away from the navel. You have come from the navel and you will die through it. One has to come back to the roots. But coming back is difficult, arduous.

Kundalini Yoga is concerned with life energy and its inward flow. It is concerned with techniques to bring the body and mind to a point where transcendence is possible. Then, everything is changed. The body is different; the mind is different; the living is different. It is just life.

A bullock cart is useful, but it is no longer needed. Now you are driving a car, so you cannot use the technique that was used with the bullock cart. It was useful with the bullock cart, but it is irrelevant with the car.

Traditional methods have an appeal because they are so ancient and so many people have achieved through them in the past. They may have become irrelevant to us, but they were not irrelevant to Buddha, Mahavira, Patanjali or Krishna. They were meaningful, helpful. The old methods may be meaningless now, but because Buddha achieved through them they have an appeal. The traditionalist feels: “If Buddha achieved through these methods, why can’t I?”

But we are in an altogether different situation now. The whole atmosphere, the whole thought-sphere, has changed. Every method is organic to a particular situation, to a particular mind, to a particular man.

The opposite extreme is that of Krishnamurti. He denies all methods. But to do that, he has to deny Buddha. It is the other aspect of the same coin. If you deny the methods then you have to deny Buddha, and if you do not deny Buddha then you cannot deny his methods.

These are extremes. Extremes are always wrong. You cannot deny a falsehood through taking an extreme position to it, because the opposite extreme will still be a falsehood. The truth always lies exactly in the middle. So to me, the fact that the old methods don’t work doesn’t mean that no method is useful. It only means that the methods themselves must change.

Even no-method is a method. It is possible that to someone only no-method will be a method. A method is always true in relation to a particular person; it is never general. When truths are generalized, they become false. So whenever anything is to be used or anything is to be said, it is always addressed to a particular human being: to his attention, to his mind, to him and no one else.

This too has become a difficulty now. In the old days there was always a one-to-one relationship between a teacher and a disciple. It was a personal relationship and a personal communication. Today it is always impersonal. One has to talk to a crowd, so one has to generalize. But generalized truths become false. Something is meaningful only to a particular person.

Any person who has been talking in general can be consistent, but then the truth becomes false, because every statement that is true is bound to be addressed to a particular person. Of course, the truth is eternal — it is never new, never old — but truth is the realization, the end. The means are always relevant or irrelevant to a particular person, to a particular mind, to a particular attitude.

As I see the situation, modern man has changed so much that he needs new methods, new techniques.

Chaotic methods will help the modern mind because the modern mind is, itself, chaotic. This chaos, this rebelliousness in modern man is, in fact, a rebellion of other things: of the body against the mind and against its suppressions. If we talk about it in yogic terms we can say that it is the rebellion of the heart center and the navel center against the brain.

These centers are against the brain because the brain has monopolized the whole territory of the human soul. This cannot be tolerated any further. That is why universities have become centers of rebellion. It is not accidental. If the whole society is thought of as an organic body, then the university is the head, the brain.

Because of the rebelliousness of the modern mind, it is bound to be lenient toward loose and chaotic methods. Dynamic Meditation will help to move the center of consciousness away from the brain. Then the person using it will never be rebellious, because the cause of rebellion becomes fulfilled. He will be at ease.

So to me, meditation is not only a salvation for the individual, a transformation for the individual; it can also provide the groundwork for the transformation of the whole society, of the human being as such.

Man will either have to commit suicide, or he will have to transform his energy.

Osho, The Psychology of the Esoteric, Talk #4

The Importance of Expression of Emotions and Osho’s Active Meditation: A Research Proposal

The Importance of Expression of Emotions and Osho’s Active Meditation:

A Research Proposal.

Abstract

Stress is one of the main psychological problems everyone faces around the globe. Meditation is one of the alternative treatment modality to reduce or cure it. However, people face difficulties in practicing meditation, particularly passive techniques. Therefore, Osho created a new method of meditation, active mediation techniques. This paper tries to compare these two different methods of meditation techniques and shows the importance of expression of emotions before sitting for a silent passive meditation.

Katya Rubia (2009), professor at King’s college in London, England, in reference to World Health Organization and other research studies such as Mathers and Loncar (2005), argues that in the next decade, the world is going to face more psychological and mental health problems. Already, people in all fields are affected by stress, depression and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which are some of the important mental health issues the world now faces. Moreover, there are many life events which have negative impacts in their life. In addition to Counselling & Disability Services at York, the University Health Network (2010, 2011), The Canadian Mental Health Association (2011) and many other social services organizations are concerned about the issues related to stress. Therefore, all of these organizations and others promote at least six ways to reduce stress and raise relaxation. These are meditations techniques, progressive muscle relaxation, autogenic training, breathing exercises, yoga stretching, and imagery (Gillani & Smith, 2001). However, one of the most promoted is meditation for stress release and relaxation (Gillani & Smith, 2001; Shao & Skarlicki, 2009). There are many meditation methods which have many different techniques and most of them are either passive or active. However, not much is known in the academic field about Osho’s active meditation techniques and whether it is better than passive techniques. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to argue that the importance and usefulness of the expression of emotion which is part of Osho’s active meditation before sitting for a silence passive meditation in order to release stress and raise relaxation and awareness.

It is regret to see that there has not been much research done in Osho’s meditation except two. One exception is Anthony D’Andrea’s (2007) anthropological study about Osho’s active meditation method and Avni Vyas (2007) pilot study for his Phd. thesis. D’Andrea (2007) and Vyas (2007) state that Osho alias Rajneesh who is an Indian mystic created new method of active meditation by incorporating eastern and western philosophies and therapeutic techniques. Unfortunately, in the Western and Eastern therapeutic world, they have been following either active or passive methods separately without combing them. That is why, Osho (2003, 2010) argues that doing only traditional passive meditation is not very helpful because it is too difficult for most people who live now. However, he continues that it was suitable for people in those times when Buddha was alive. These traditional methods have been followed for a long time even before Buddha, Gowdhama Siddhartha. However, this method became popularized after his contribution to this work (Osho, 1974, 2010). Since then, it has been widely used even now in the academic field. 

There are many different traditional meditation methods and techniques used to reduce stress which have long and short term benefits (Weiss, Nordlie & Siegel, 2005). However, passive meditation methods such as Vipassana, Zen, Mindfulness or Transcendental Meditations (TM), are followed by most people who practice meditation or do study or research on it (Rubia, 2009; Osho, 1974, 2003). These methods usually involve sitting silently and watching one’s own breath and thoughts, or scanning the body with closed eyes without any judgment but it begins with concentrating on a particular word or thing (Rubia, 2009). Noori B. Gillani and Jonathan C. Smith (2001) also argue that TM by Mahes Yogi (Shao & Skarlicki, 2009) and Zen Meditation methods have been widely shown in academic research to reduce stress and to solve other psychological issues.   These traditional meditations, like mindfulness meditation, are also very helpful for identifying symptoms of stress in its beginning stages. Its conscious breathing helps distract the thought patterns and reduce their affects (Toneatto & Nguyen, 2007).

Osho (2003, 2010) however has criticized TM method because it is just like a mother helping a child to sleep by repeating a mantra and good for people who have sleep problems but not for reducing stress or other psychological problems. Rubia (2009) also says that this method is commercialized and just repeating any mantras like “ram…or rama”.  One hand, traditional methods are more disciplined and systematic which do not help to break the old disciplined and conditioned mind even though help some to relax (Osho, 2003, 2010). On the other hand, Osho (2003, 2010) argues that now people are not attached to and less aware of their bodies, and live a fast and mechanical life with more disciplined minds and lives. In addition, they have suppressed their emotions and feelings because of their social conditioning and culture. Also, people have full of unnecessary knowledge and thoughts because there has been an easy access to all kinds of information since the revolution in information technology. Therefore, it is difficult for them to sit, relax and watch their breath or thoughts because everyone is so tense (Osho, 2003, 2010). That is why there has been always a modification in meditation methods and techniques.

Gillani and Smith (2001) also argue that Zen meditation is not that useful for non-meditating participants. Therefore, the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) method was created by Kabat- Zinn. This new method incorporates different kind of techniques like yoga, breathing and other techniques including Zen for stress reduction and enhances performance (2001). Since this was created, it has been widely used to study, particularly in the academic field in North America and Europe, in order to reduce stress and also other psychological issues and have shown proven results. Therefore, this method has an accepted validity and reliability as well (2001).  Even though, these techniques are famous, whether these are useful for everyone or just only for particular gender and personalities is an ongoing study.

Shao and Skarlicki (2009) are some of the few who have studied the effects of MSBR on a group of MBA students to examine their performance. They found out that mindfulness meditation improved their performance. However, they found that there was a difference in results between genders because women improved more than men. They support their result based on neuroscience research studies because, mindfulness meditation activated both left and right hemispheres (Shao & Skarlicki, 2009).  fMRI showed females used both left and right hemispheres but males used only their left hemisphere. Therefore, they concluded that women do better in their performance. However, even though passive meditation helps men to activate both sides of their brain simultaneously, male brains inhibit their performance since they use one side of the brain which competes with the other side, therefore not improve their performance (2009). This shows that MBSR is also, like a traditional passive meditation techniques even though it incorporates different techniques, not much helpful for everyone.  Therefore, these passive meditations show some inadequacies in their techniques.

In addition, people who are new to meditation say that it is difficult to practice meditation because it is very hard to sit quietly and free the mind from thoughts.  Another reason is, during meditation, many people are aware of many thoughts, a lot of new thoughts than normally when they sit down and doing nothing (Osho, 2003, 2010).  Therefore, most of the people find it is difficult to reach a state of “no mind.” That is why Osho (2010) says that he had created a new modern method called active meditation. Osho (2003) argues, even though meditation itself is a passive state or method, there is something missing in practicing traditional meditation techniques for the current generation to prepare them to go into a meditative state; the active part. Therefore, he divided his meditation method into two parts with different techniques such as active and passive. Most of the first part of Osho’s meditation method is the active part which includes catharsis, fast and chaotic breathing through the nose or mouth, jumping, dancing, crying, laughing and gibberish (Osho, 2003, 2010; D’Andrea, 2007; Vyas, 2007).

Osho argues that, first, there is a need for the expression of suppressed emotions and feelings and the use of chaotic expression to free the mind of thoughts in order to connect with their own body again (Osho, 2003, 2010; D’Andrea, 2007; Vyas, 2007). It is important to combine the active parts like catharsis with anger, laughter and crying as an expression with the passive part and created as one method of meditation in order to reduce stress and raise relaxation and awareness (Osho, 2003, 2010). Leslie Greenberg (2008) also emphasizes in his studies the importance of emotional expression and awareness in order to have a healthy body and mind. Only then, can people go into a deep meditation or meditative state and can have an experience of it by watching their breath and thoughts. Therefore, Osho added a passive part as the second and last part for his meditation method which is the same as traditional meditation methods and gives meditative experience and helps to raise relaxation and awareness (2003).

            Osho (2003, 2010) argues that the emotional expression is important to reduce stress and raise relaxation and awareness. Since the emotions are deeply suppressed within, it is the basic cause for the stress or depression and other psychological problems.  In support to Osho’s argument, Ruth Davidhizar and Margaret Bowen (1992) argue that the emotional expression like crying helps to relax and otherwise it causes depression and can affect physically and psychologically such as PTSD symptoms after a traumatic event (Anderson,  Guajardo, Jennifer,  Luthra,  & Edwards, 2010). Hence, Antonio Pascual-Leone and Leslie S. Greenberg (2007) argue, it is difficult to categories emotions as positive or negative since both help to heal the person when they express it. Emotions transform from one to another for example when people either start to laugh or cry, the other emotion would follow in the middle of the process (Osho, 2003, 2010).  In the same way, anger might transform in to sadness (Pascual-leone & Greenberg, 2007). This shows that there is an interconnection among emotions and as result, when expressing one emotion might lead to another emotion which might be the primary emotion and the real cause of the present stress or depression (Pascual-leone & Greenberg, 2007; Osho, 2003, 2010). Therefore, what is important in the first place is as Osho (2003) and Pascual-leone and Greenberg (2007) argue that acceptance and being aware of own emotions whether it is positive or negative. They also argue that it is important to identify what kind of emotion the person has (2007). Only then, expression of emotions is possible and it will help to heal the physical and psychological problems of the participants (Osho, 2003). After expressing all of these so-called negative emotions, participants might feel relax but have low energy. Therefore they need some positive energy, coping skills and attitudes towards life in order to live a healthy life. This can be done through laughter and meditation.

Laughter has two functions. First, it helps to reduce stress and then it transforms negative emotions and energy into positive emotions, accumulates more energy within the participants and healthy relationship between the participants (Osho, 2003, 2010; Sutorius, 1995). Davidhizar and Bowen (1992) discuss that laughter as a tool reduces stress and raises relaxation. It is a natural part of human nature and is used to cure physical, psychological issues such as pain and stress (1992). Sutorius (1995) argues from his own experience that laughing everyday at least for some time, fifteen minutes, makes people relax and helps them to solve their day to day problems in a creative way. He says that he learned laughing meditation from Osho (2003, 2010) who says “laugh for no reason at all, just for the sake of the laughter, just laugh.” In addition, Sutorius (1995) says that anyone can laugh at their own problems and it makes them lighter and allows them to see the problems from a different perspective.  Melany Cueva, Regina Kuhnley, Anne Lanier and Mark Dignan (2006) also support these ideas about laughter based on the research study which they have done with First nation people in Alaska. In addition, Dacher Keltner and George A. Bonanno (1997) have done a study with the people who have lost their spouse or relatives and they found that there was an improvement in the participants’ life by practicing laughter. The participants had less sorrow and stress but had more happiness.

Osho (2003, 2010), Sutorius (1995), Keltner and Bonanno (1997) and Cueva et al., (2006) argue that even artificial laughter has its own effect because after all, it is laughter in the end ,while others such as Davidhizar and Bowen (1992) argue that artificial laughter is not that effective. Moreover, not only does it help the people who are close to laughing people, but it is infectious and spreads the laughter too. However, all of these researches agree on one point, that the laughter can be used to reduce stress and pain and raise relaxation. The reason is laughter stimulates the immune system which is cut short when a person has stress. Another reason is that laughter simulates the secretion of betaendorphines in the brain and thus affects pain-receptor sites of the nerve cells and reduces pain sensations and massages the muscles in the face and makes a state of relaxation (Davidhizar & Bowen, 1992, Martin, 2001). Nicholas A. Kuiper and Rod A. Martin (1998) take is argument one step further and posit that laughter functions as barrier to stop the stress in its beginning stages. People who laugh regularly do not have a stressful life but have a positive attitude towards life compared to people who do not laugh (Kuiper and Martin 1998; Cueva et al., 2006). After the expression of emotions and explosion of laughter, relaxation might happen by itself to the participants. Most of the Western therapies stop their treatment here and miss the meditative part as coping skills for the future. However, Osho’s added traditional passive techniques as a last part to his method. Most of the traditional Eastern Therapeutic and meditation followers begins this last part as the first step and miss the emotional expression.

The last part of the Osho’s active meditation is that doing nothing and just let go when the silence might happens itself within without any effort by the participants (2003, 2010). This is called as the meditative state of a participant which is called as no-mind in the meditative field (Osho, 2003, 2010) or mindfulness in the academic filed, but in the commercialized world, it is limited with relaxation. However, this is the ultimate goal of the meditation and this might happen within a short period by practicing Osho’s active meditation than the passive meditation.  The reason is that participants might feel themselves full of energy and experience of relaxation after the explosion of expressing all the suppressed emotions through catharsis and laughter by practicing Osho’s active meditation. Then silence happens by itself for the participants and that is the time to go deeper in to themselves by being aware of their thoughts and breathing or doing nothing (Osho, 2003, 2010). Rubia (2009) says that meditative part help the participants in four levels such as physical, cognitive, emotional and psychological levels. In addition, she says, there are several other internal functions happens within the body and brain such as neurophysiological activities (2009).  These all help to reduce stress and raise relaxation and awareness in the participants. 

Rubia (2009) also explains that the ultimate goal of meditation is to make the mind free of thoughts, relaxation and self-actualization. Dhvan Sutorius (1995) says that meditation is being aware of thoughts without thinking or judging anything or a state of “no mind.”  Moreover, meditation raises physical and mental relaxation and offers physical, psychological, and emotional balance (Zayfert, & Becker, 2007) and it does not give any side effects compared to other pharmaceutical treatments and it costs nothing (Rubia, 2009).  Besides, meditation is one the best natural treatments for reducing stress and other psychological problems, and gives many other positive results as by-products (Oman et al., 2008; Skevington & White, 1998).  Oman et al., (2008) supported their argument with many other research studies which have been done by Shapiro, Astin, Winzelberg and Luskin and Tloczynski and Tantriella. In addition, Osho (1974, 2003, & 2010) also emphasizes that the goal of meditation is to raise the consciousness, or conscious awareness, or awareness of the individual and be now-here, in the present.

It can be concluded that emotional expression such as anger, laughter, and crying are important parts for relaxation and reduction of stress. Therefore, this paper propose that  Osho’s active meditation methods can be used for a research study to know whether active meditation reduce stress or even PTSD symptoms and raise awareness or not. There are more than ten active meditation techniques which are one hour long are available to do a research study (osho.com). For example, doing catharsis for ten minutes, laughing for ten minutes, crying ten minutes and then being silent and doing nothing for thirty minutes as a passive part of the meditation. This method can be compared to passive meditation method, “Vippassana” which is being silent and watching and being aware of own breath and thoughts without any judgments with closed eyes for sixty minutes. In addition, Osho’s dynamic meditation, kundalini meditation and also laughing meditation can be used to do a research study.  Kuiper and Martin (1998) also recommended in their studies that in the future there is a need to find out that how laughter works with different genders and personalities. Therefore, it can be also purposed another study just comparing laughing for fifteen minutes and silent for fifteen minutes with thirty minutes silent meditation to know whether these techniques reduce stress or PTSD symptoms and raise relaxation or not. The hypotheses will be that active meditation is better than passive meditation in reducing stress or PTSD symptoms and raising relaxation.

If this research study has been done and find positive results, it could be used in Sri Lanka, particularly in North and Eastern province where people have been affected by war and violence for last 25 years and natural disaster like tsunami. They have to overcome their psychological affects of war and tsunami like stress, depression and PTSD, not only fight for their rights and freedom but also to live their day to day life. Therefore, they need all kind of supports from everyone. Only a healthier society can fight for their freedom in a healthy way.

Meerabharathy.

photos: osho.com

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