48 OSHO WORLD

A Sufi generally works upon his sleep, and not on

breathing. For him, night vigil has great significance. He

will keep awake for months; and a situation of

strangeness can arise from long and constant wakefulness, as it

arises from fast and hard breathing. If you can go without sleep for

a full month, you will land in the same state of madness which

comes through deep and chaotic breathing.

Because sleep is a very natural phenomenon -- it is as natural as

breathing -- the Sufi makes a frontal attack on sleep, and thus goes

through very strange and weird experiences.

But night vigil has its own dangers, and they are greater than

those inherent in chaotic breathing. This is a long and drawn out

process: you have to keep waking for months together -- night

vigil of a day or two is useless. And if something goes wrong after

49AUGUST 2008

you keep awake for two months,

the wrong cannot be remedied in a

second or two. But a wrong arising

after ten minutes of breathing can

be remedied in a second. If you go

to sleep after two months of

constant waking, you cannot make

up the loss in twenty-four hours.

Maybe, you will not even be able to

sleep after two months of night

vigil.

The path of the Sufi is more

dangerous, although night vigil is

very useful. The seeker keeps

waking night after night and waits

patiently.

The Sufi also uses dance as a

device. Dance can also be a means

to bring about separation of the

body and soul, but the dance has to

be one that is not learned, practised

and prepared. If you dance in a

practised way, it won't do. Breathing

in the way of pranayam cannot

bring about the separation such a

strange thing that you cannot

of the body and soul -- because

pranayam is methodological --

similarly, if someone repeats a

prepared dance, he will soon

identify himself with the body. But

if I tell one of you here who does

not know dancing that he should

dance, and he suddenly begins

dancing and prancing, he can make

it. This is such a strange thing that

you cannot identify yourself with it,

you cannot know that you are

dancing.

So these are the two methods

that the Sufis use: night vigil and

dancing.. Some other methods have

oollen clothes in the typical hot

also been used. For example, the

Sufis use wool for their garments.

They wear woollen clothes in the

typical hot climate of deserts -- that

is how they go against the body.

Someone who fasts is also going

against the body. Someone is sitting

with one foot placed on a sharp nail,

and another person sleeps on a bed

of thorns. All these are devices to

create that strange psychological

situation where separation can

happen.

-Osho,

In Search of the Miraculous,

Vol 1, Ch 11

The Sufi also uses dance as a device.

Dance can also be a means to bring

about separation of the body and

soul, but the dance has to be one

that is not learned, practised and

prepared