This word ‘Philosia’ was coined by Osho, a Mystic.
About OSHO:-
Every mystic is like a flower. They have attained the blissful state called flowering or awakening or ascension.
Osho says:- Scholars have translated the Eastern word ‘Darshan’, which means ‘seeing’, into Philosophy, finding no other way to capture its meaning.
But they are not at all connected: Philosophy is thinking, not seeing. A blind man can think about light, but cannot see it; the man with eyes can see the light; there is no need to think about it. (This seeing inner light is possible with the third eye only)
In the East there is nothing comparable to word ‘philosophy’;
in the West there is nothing comparable to ‘Darshan’ दर्शन (in Hindi).
Osho says:- I have coined my own word to translate Darshan, and that is Philosia.
‘Philo’ means Love, and
‘sia’ means to see.
‘Sophy’ means ‘thinking’,
‘sia’ means ‘seeing’.
And the whole East has beem working only in one dimension(direction) for centuries: how to find the ‘seer’.
You cannot go beyond it; that is the ultimate. Everything is in front of it; it is behind the whole reality, and everything goes on changing…
You are a child, you will become young, you will become old. Anything that is changing can be recorded or measured with reference to a constant only. Right.
Your consciousness is that constant which does not change with age. You are that consciousness or ‘seer’ or ‘reality’. You are alive, you will be dead- everything goes on changing, except the seer.
But the seer is something absolutely eternal.
Philosia means a person who has actually seen or experienced the existence or truth or Jesus-Consciousness or Buddha-Consciousness through eyes.
He has transcended the human mind to experience the no-mind state. Even if a glimpse is sufficient to begin learning about inner secrets of the existence. Because unless one gets a glimpse, how he/she is going to further explore it?
It will be just like searching for a door in a dark room which has only walls on all sides. The door is experience of existence and wall is thinking about it while the life is that room.
Our being is very small compared to the mind including conscious and sub-conscious part. Here no-mind state is the part of super-consciousness which is sometimes also included in definition of mind. Actually it is beyond it and its path is from being and not from mind.
If you wish to know about the experience of Philosia moment in life keep reading till end.
Practice of Awareness meditation helped me experience the Philosia moment in my life. I learned about Awareness meditation for first time in my life while I was reading a book of Osho.
The scene:-
On another day while he was talking about word Darshan (दर्शन) in Hindi and objected to use of word ‘Philosophy’ as equivalent word for ‘Darshan (दर्शन)’ in English used by learned people of that time.
He was Delivering talks titled “Great pilgrimage from here to here, chapter title Philosia…The path of the Mystic”. I have taken a screenshot of the part of talk and it is as below.
He says “In Philosophy one contemplates about existence. Philosophy is like a blind person thinking about light.”
Mystics like Osho, keep spreading their fragrance in the form of their message around. Like a flower they do it selflessly whether there is any taker of it present there or not.
In my opinion Osho is first global mystic, he talked on every the religion of the world during his experiment in Pune, India that ran for 20+ years.
The seekers of high calibre like Harvard graduates etc from 75 countries belonging to every possible religion accompanied him to get his commentary on messages of Mystics like Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Heraclitus, Dogen, Hakim Sanai, Sufi’s get published, audio/video recorded for future generations. He created link roads between all religions through this experiment.
In his talks on Jesus, he quoted similar statements from mystics of other religions like Krishna, Buddha, Lao Tzu etc so that people can understand other religion without leaving their own religion.
My experiences shared here are to help contemporary people to take one more step in inner journey:-
PHILOSIA logo designed by our designer for pictorial depiction of the moment that transformed me. It is as per my experience of the Philosia moment or transformative moment. It happened due to practice of witnessing or functioning consciousness.
It happens on completion of circle of life by living natural life to it’s best (Yin phase) and then entering into spiritual life (Yang phase) with same enthusiasm and completing it too.
Then one arrives at the point from which the journey started and that is beyond both Yin and Yang. To know more about idea behind logo of Philosia visit my post on Philosia logo and it’s meaning.
So if you wish to know more about this experience of Philosia moment and learn something to take one step in discovering inner light within or grow inner wisdom, keep reading till the end.
You may like to listen, in US English accent, to this post from my Podcast Philosia (दर्शन) at Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts.
In our childhood our elders used to tell a story “The intelligent hare and the witless lion” to us which is from “Panchtantra”, but it seems to me that the secret in the stories is so subtle that even the storyteller do not understand its deeper meaning but just as a custom it is being told to children.
It is told so that when one of the child will experience the existence or truth he will understand its deeper meaning automatically and it will be helpful for him to understand the phases he has undergone or experienced in the journey.
It will also help him/her to guide the basic requirements needed for being a qualified Master in helping others experience the Philosia moment in their life.
No basic education is required to achieve this Master’s qualification but certainly a degree or Ph. D is helpful to better understand and transfer it among highly qualified and educated persons so that they can practically apply it in solving real life problems or to fulfill Social needs of the generations or prepare well for future generations…
The story is as follows
“It is a story of a Lion, the King, in a forest. All the resident animals of the forest have to live in constant stress and any time the lion can attack on anyone. So they all assembled to solve the problem so that they can live peacefully. They offers to the lion, the king, a plan. They suggested that one animal will reach to the Lions den each day, at decided time, to satiate the hunger of the King. The lion king agreed.
For a long time this plan worked well and both parties in agreement remained true to their promises.
One day it was a chance of a small rabbit to sacrifice its life for peace of the forest and satiate the hunger of the lion. When his name was called, It was a brave rabbit. It was not trembling inside by just thinking about the death. The rabbit started to think about how ways to solve the problem of the fellow animals. As it will be some others turn tomorrow, and it will go on for eternity. It was decided by the rabbit that when life is at stake then why not take a chance to let all other animals get rid of this Lion forever.
On the way to the Lions den the rabbit saw a well and when looking inside it saw its image in still water. Suddenly the rabbit got the idea and deliberately became late while keeping an eye on the Lion from far away.
The hungry lion became angry and moving here and there thinking about the future of animals of the forest as punishment for breaking the promise.
Suddenly the tiny rabbit appeared before the lion and in a humble voice prayed to listen to it for the reason of delay and then do as decided without taking me into consideration as food for toady, since i am so tiny to satiate your hunger. The lion nodded in agreement and became eager to really listen carefully. The rabbit informed that in the way there was a far stronger lion on the way and stopped it to challenge you. But i insisted for a fight with you only them i will assume supremacy. So please come with me and accept the challenge.
The Lion went with this rabbit to the well and rabbit introduced “the well with still water” as den of the challenging Lion. On looking inside the well image as another lion is mistook by hungry and angry lion and immediately jumped into it to accept the challenge. Died immediately and all animals of the forest are saved and lived peacefully thereafter.
Lesson from this story is to be brave, intelligent and have courage.”
Perhaps my description for Philosia may be of some more help in understanding this rare phenomenon. It is described as below.
Philosia, experiencing the truth by seeing, gives an altogether different lesson from this story which is worth help to seekers in their inner journey. We can use Philosia as experiencing the Philosia moment in life in which truth got revealed or we get a glimpse of the existence which is the reality.
Actually this story is about human life. The human body is the forest in which The witless Lion is the ego and the small, courageous and intelligent rabbit is the being of the human or the soul or the consciousness.
It is the being, a very small and fragile part, that connects a person with the universal wisdom and answers us the solutions to the problems in real life situations. It is also called as intuition or common sense.
Death of ego is not your death just like death of witless Lion (king) is not death of forest. Instead after the death of this witless Lion (king) the forest became peaceful. The joy, celebration and dance now has a different quality.
Death of the ego, means death of all your past achievements that is how we define ourself. That is why courage is the most required qualification for transforming a human life from “Human being” to “Being human”
A person who wish to transcend the mind has to learn to use this being in a courageous way, like the rabbit in the story, and be prepared for sacrificing all that is considered as worthwhile till date.
The existence or truth reveals itself to us in the Philosia moment and it is experienced when in intense no-mind state acts as The mirror like water surface and The ego has no option but to jump and die in it. With the death of ego rare coincidence of no-mind state happens with no-ego state and that led to blossoming a new man born out of this old body.
About this rebirth Osho says “On the grave of our ego blossoms the lotus of your being.” This is what is the meaning of a saying of Jesus ” Unless you are born again, you will not enter into the kingdom of God.” This kingdom of God is REALITY that exists from eternity to eternity.
During experience of Philosia moment the truth or existence reveal itself to the person and he becomes able to see Oneness in everyone after that experience. This living in oneness is the REALITY or consciousness or existence of every human being.
The first glimpse of REALITY or existence is called Philosia, and it happens by ‘seeing’ in no-mind state on its own. Saying seeing too is not accurate because that seeing is not like we see an object as a spectator. Here the subject gets dissolved into the object after seeing it, and the REALITY is experienced by living in it for few moments as WATCHER. The watcher is not the experiencer because your ego is no more there. These few moments may be hours and days for people around us, because we enter into timelessness for that period.
In my case the previous state gets restored. Some Mystics were able to remain in that state forever like Janak, Meera, Kabir and Osho. In Zen they call it Satori when they again return to mind state.
This mirror like no-mind state, which is first requirement of experiencing Philosia, can only be achieved with the help of intelligent being acting courageously so that one is able to peel off the ego as we peel of the layers of onions.
Witnessing or watchfulness or awareness is the tool with the help of which being can be approached. Just simple habit of awareness or witnessing in routine life will make it happen any day. When it happens? It cannot be said as it is uncertain.
It has not happened in all your past lives this is sure because we are given birth as human being just to complete the unfinished task. Only way to pass this exam of God is to secure 100% in this exam of inner journey. So it may not happen in this life also. Still it is worth practicing whole life. Because It may happen in this moment! It is the intensity of thirst or yearning or urgency that makes it possible for us. So it is like gambling, and only a great gambler can risk life for it to happen. In Zen it is said “Sit silently, season comes and the grass grows by itself green.”
I recently tried to explain it using a photo in a post : Conditioning, Philosophy and REALITY
In another post I used an experiment of ‘Quantum physics’ as metaphor to let us understand Philosia moment better.
As we grow we need to become more efficient so as to earn our bread and butter hence we become robotic. While in our childhood we acted consciously during every act. This is why even the work was relaxing like a play. This awareness that we have lost is needed to be regained or discovered.
Osho says “At any moment you close your eyes, first you will see thoughts, a layer of thinking all around you, thoughts vibrating – one coming, another going – a crowd, a traffic. Remain silent for a few seconds, and suddenly you will see that thinking is no longer there but dreaming has started. You are dreaming that you have become the president of a country, or you have found a brick of gold on the road, or you have found a beautiful woman or a man, and suddenly you start projecting; dreams start functioning. If you continue dreaming for a long time, one moment will come when you will fall asleep – thinking, dreaming, sleep, and from sleep again to dreaming and thinking. This is how your whole life revolves. Real awareness is not known yet, and that real awareness is what Patanjali says will destroy ignorance – not knowledge, but awareness. We collect knowledge just to befool ourselves and others.”—————-Osho, Yoga:The science of the soul.
The mind is biggest hurdle in our inner journey. It is helpful too but only up to a certain altitude after that it needed to be disconnected from it because then it starts creating more trouble. So just like first stage of rocket engine is left to drop on the Earth so that the satellite can be launched in its orbit, our mind too needs to be dropped in subtle way so that even the mind could not recognise being dropped!
Awareness meditation is of great help in getting this job done.
Osho says “The deep problem is: how to become aware, how not to be unconscious. From where to start? Don’t try to fight with some very deep-rooted habit. You will be defeated. The fur coat will not leave you so easily. Start with very neutral habits.
For example: you go for a walk; just be aware that you are walking. (Try to Walk with witnessing consciousness).
It is a neutral thing. Nothing is invested in it. You are looking at the trees; just look at the trees and be aware. Don’t look with clouded eyes. Drop all thinking. Just for a few moments even, just look at the trees, and just look. Look at the stars. Swimming, just be alert to the inner feeling that happens inside your body while you are swimming, the inner. Feel it. You are taking a sun bath; feel how you start feeling inside: warm, settled, rested. While falling asleep, just watch how you are feeling inside. Inside, outside – try to be aware of the coolness of the sheets, the darkness in the room, the silence outside, or the noise outside. Suddenly, a dog barks – neutral things; bring your consciousness to them first. And then, by and by, proceed.
Then, try to be aware of your good habits, because good habits re not so deep-rooted as bad habits. Good habits need much sacrifice on your part, so very few people try to cultivate good habits. And even those who try to cultivate good habits try very few good habits; just underneath, many bad habits are there.
First try neutral, then good, then move by and by to bad habits. And finally, remember that each habit has to be made aware. Once you have become aware of your whole habitual pattern, that habitual pattern is your mind. Any day the shift will happen. Suddenly, you will be in the no-mind. When all the habits of your life have become aware, you don’t do them unconsciously suddenly, a shift will happen. You will find yourself in emptiness. That is the original mind which is neither pure nor impure.”——————-Osho, Yoga-The science of the soul, Chapter 3, Returning to the original mind.
Awareness meditation is the way worked for me and I tried it first during brushing my teeth in the morning after trying 8-10 meditations over period of 15 years! So there is no need to reinvent the circle for you if you are also thirsty to get experience of Philosia moment in your life. May be you too find it suitable otherwise with Dynamic meditation and/or Kundalini in the evening it is suitable for most of the people. There are 110 other meditation techniques discovered by Indian Mystic Gorakhnath about 500years before and further modified by Osho for contemporary people that one can experiment and the suitable one could be practiced in routine life.
My experiences may be of your help in taking only one step. Because everyone has to move forward alone, this is the nature of this journey.
In my life mindfulness or awareness meditation helped miraculously. Apart from that living a simple, authentic and totality in life is very helpful even when we are serving people around us with great love and care without discrimination.
Hi ….. I write my comments from my personal experiences of my inner journey. This post may include teachings of Mystics around the world which from my personal experience I found worth following even today. For more have a look at my linktree website for getting regular updates through social media lor subscribe to YouTube channel or listen to the podcasts etc.
For references of content on Osho, Copyright © OSHO International Foundation, An MP3 audio file of many discourses can be downloaded from Osho(dot)com or you can listen or watch most of his discourses @ OSHO International channel of YouTube where you can get subtitles in language of your choice or you can read the entire book online at the Osho Library. Many of Osho’s books are available online at Amazon.
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