Meditation is Witnessing (Osho)

Meditation starts by being separate from the mind, by being a witness. That is the only way of separating yourself from anything. If you are looking at the light, naturally one thing is certain: you are not the light, you are the one who is looking at it. If you are watching the flowers, one thing is certain: you are not the flower, you are the watcher.

Watching is the key of meditation.

Watch your mind.

Don't do anything - no repetition of mantra, no repetition of the name of god - just watch whatever the mind is doing. Don't disturb it, don't prevent it, don't repress it; don't do anything at all on your part. You just be a watcher, and the miracle of watching is meditation. As you watch, slowly mind becomes empty of thoughts; but you are not falling asleep, you are becoming more alert, more aware.
As the mind becomes completely empty, your whole energy becomes aflame of awakening. This flame is the result of meditation. So you can say meditation is another name of watching, witnessing, observing - without any judgement, without any evaluation. Just by watching, you immediately get out of the mind....

It is like the experience of people who have sometimes got lost in a desert. At first, thirst is a word in their mind: "I am feeling thirsty and I am looking for water." But as time goes on, and there is no sign of any oasis -- and as far as the eyes can see, there is no possibility of finding water -- the thirst goes on spreading all over the body. From the mind, from just a word, `thirst', it starts spreading to every cell and fiber of the body. Now it is no longer a word, it is an actual experience.

Your every cell -- and there are seven million cells in the body -- is thirsty. Those cells don't know words, they don't know language, but they know that they need water; otherwise life is going to be finished. In meditation, the longing becomes just a thirst for enlightenment and a patient awaiting; because it is such a great phenomenon and you are so tiny. Your hands cannot reach it; it is not within your reach. It will come and overwhelm you but you cannot do anything to bring it down to you.

You are too small; your energies are too small. But whenever you are really waiting with patience and longing and passion, it comes. In the right moment, it comes. It has always come.