Amrit Sadhana

One morning I woke up savouring the freshness of the golden sunlight, enjoying the slender sunrays filtering through my window pane. The first thought that popped up into my mind like a well done toast was: “Thank God, it’s Monday!” I was startled by my own thought.
While the whole world is grumping and groaning about Monday, unwilling to let go off the lovely lazy Sunday, here I am chirping about the first working day of the week.
And why not? If it is Monday, it means the shops will be open, the government offices will function, we will receive our snail mail, the courier service will bring the much awaited parcel, the printer will bring the proofs and life will move with full speed. Isn’t it a cause for jubilation?
The contemporary man is completely sold out to the idea of the weekend and therefore he is horrified by the idea of working seven days a week. But has anybody thought about it, waiting for the week to end is a great drain on the efficiency throughout the week. People drag themselves through each workday so they can relax in the evening, they endure the week so that they rest at the weekend. They work through the year so that they can apply for leave at the end of the year. If we stretch the logic a little further, they put up with life so that they can relax in death.
Instead of justifying the need for holiday, let us look at the quality of our working life.
Perhaps some Osho insights could help to change the way we work: The basic question is, do you enjoy the work you are doing? Do you go on working wishing you could or would do something else? Is your work a necessary evil — to earn a living, or to fulfil ambition. Is “work” a four letter word for you?

What and how: What you do is not important, it is how you do it. Whatsoever you do, do it with deep alertness; then even small things become sacred. Then cooking or cleaning become sacred. It is not a question of what you are doing, the question is how you are doing it. You can clean the floor like a robot, a mechanical thing; you have to clean it, so you clean it. Then you miss something beautiful. It could have been a great experience; you missed it. You cleaned the floor and the cleaning would have cleansed you. If you were aware, not only the floor but you would have felt a deep cleansing. Clean the floor full of awareness, luminous with awareness.

Remember yourself: You may work or sit or walk, but one thing has to be a continuous thread: remember yourself. While walking, say, “I am walking”. While sitting, say, “I am sitting”. While talking, be aware, “I am talking”. And feel the shift in your awareness. There will be a sudden spark. Make more and more moments of your life luminous with awareness. The cumulative effect, all the moments together become a great source of light.

Are you a perfectionist?: Beware! You are digging a hole for yourself. What counts is being total, not perfect — and this brings out the best in you. The very idea of perfectionism drives people crazy. The perfectionist is bound to be a neurotic, he cannot enjoy life till he is perfect. And perfection as such never happens, it is not in the nature of things. Life is imperfect, only death is perfect. Totality is possible, perfection is not possible.
And there is a tremendous difference between perfection and totality. Perfection is a goal somewhere in the future, totality is an experience here-now. Totality is not a goal, it is a style of life. If you can get into any act with your whole heart, you are total. Totality brings wholeness, totality brings health and totality brings sanity.
The perfectionist completely forgets about totality. He has a vague idea, how he should be. There is a big gap between how he is and how he wants to be. And of course it can’t happen now, it is always then, there; tomorrow, or the day after; this life, maybe next life... so life has to be postponed.
Totality generates so much joy, you would never want to stop working.
These are small tools but if you use them you will see the gap between work and holiday decreasing. You will be eagerly waiting for the work to begin. And then you will say like me, thank God, it’s Monday!

— Amrit Sadhana is in the management team of Osho International Meditation Resort, Pune. She facilitates meditation workshops around the country and abroad.