Amrit Sadhana

Imagine human life without the special sense bestowed on us called imagination. Wouldn’t life be a drudgery, a dry desert walk if we could not fly on the wings of imagination? We create a virtual world by using our imagination.We depend on the power of imagination so much because our mundane reality is not very juicy and satisfying. Most of the time we have to make adjustments, compromises and settle for something we have not aspired for. With imagination we can take flight in our own realm, fulfil all the dreams that cannot come true in life.

This faculty is also called the “mind’s eye” or the “special sense” and it is exclusively human. The human capacity to imagine has allowed mankind to discover some of the mysteries of nature. The evolution of the human brain has created millions of new cells and new pathways that have opened a whole new world for mankind to enjoy.
In today’s stressed times people more and more take refuge in their own imaginary world. The world of human art and literature is born out of the imaginative creativity. But sometimes a bout of imagination creates funny situations. People start imagining things that are completely unrealistc.
An old man is traveeling in a railway compartment and a young man sitting in front of him asks, “Can I know the time, sir?” The old man has a watch, but he thinks for a while. The young man thinks, “Perhaps he is deaf, he is old”. So he shouts loudly, “I want to know, what is the time?”
The old man said, “Listen, young man, I am not deaf. I have heard that you want to know what the time is, but I was thinking whether to tell you the time or not, because once I tell you the time, there will be an initiation of talks between us. I will ask you, ‘Where are you going?’ And you will say, ‘The next station’, and I will say, ‘That’s strange, I am also going there. In fact I live there, so why don’t you come and have a cup of coffee with us?’”
“I have a beautiful young daughter and it is absolutely certain that you will fall in love with each other. And I don’t want my daughter to be married to a man who does not have even a wristwatch!”
This kind of lucid imagination is good for creating fiction, spinning stories but when one starts meditating this habit is a great barrier. Because meditation is a search for the truth and imagination is anti-truth, it clouds the mind. It can destroy the capacity to see clearly. It takes the attention away from the present moment, and lodges you in the future. Actually there are few people who have a clear perception of reality because they don’t allow themselves to be swayed by imagination. For average human beings a big amount of energy is locked in imagination, and it creates lots of problems for them.
Is it possible to reclaim the energy that is trapped in imagination and using it creatively for spiritual growth? Osho has given an original insight on how to use this resource for strengthening this moment. He says, if you can manage to focus your attention here and now then the imagination will be free to create within the present itself. If the imagination is focused on the real, it begins to reflect the truth. It becomes very creative. The creation may take any form. If you are a poet, it becomes an explosion of poetry. But the poetry will not be a longing for the future, it will not be a fantasy but an expression of the present. Or if you are a painter, the explosion will be of painting. The painting will not be of something as you have imagined it, but as you have known it and lived it. All the mystic poets, painters or artistes create timeless objects because they use their imaginative energy to manifest reality. Life without imagination would be life with the truth.

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