Nasreddin Hodja had grown old and begun to suffer from sleeplessness. He tried everything — hot baths, medicine, sedatives, syrups — but nothing helped. Nothing worked at all. And his children grew distressed, because when the Hodja could not sleep, he let no one else in the house sleep either. Night became a nightmare for the whole family.

In their helplessness they looked into every method, every remedy that might make the Hodja sleep, because the whole family was being driven mad. At last they found a hypnotist. The children came home overjoyed and told the Hodja: “You needn’t worry anymore, father. This man works miracles. He brings on sleep within minutes. He knows its magic, so don’t worry at all. No more fear — you will sleep.”

The hypnotist showed Nasreddin a watch on a chain and said: “A little faith works miracles. You only need to trust me a little. Trust me, and you will fall asleep like a baby. Look at this watch.”

The man began to swing the watch left and right. “Left-right, left-right. Your eyes are growing tired, tired, tired. You are sleeping, sleeping, sleeping.”

Everyone was thrilled. Happy. The Hodja’s eyes closed, his head dropped, and he sank into a deep sleep like a baby. He began to breathe steadily. The hypnotist took his fee, raised a finger to his lips to tell the children not to disturb him, and slipped quietly outside. The moment he was gone, the Hodja opened one eye and said:

Did the madman leave?

He had been straining to relax, and so he relaxed ‘like a baby.’ He began to breathe steadily, closed his eyes — but all of it was by effort. He was helping the hypnotist. He thought he was helping. But from his side it required effort, and so nothing happened. Nothing could happen. He was awake. Had he been content to be passive — simply listening to what was said, looking at what was shown — sleep would have come. He did not need to make any effort; only passive acceptance was needed. Yet even to bring the mind into passive acceptance, an effort is required at the start.

So do not fear effort. Begin with effort, and remember that effort must be left behind, that you must pass beyond it. Only when you go beyond it do you become passive, and this passive awareness brings the miracle.

With passive awareness, the mind is no longer there. For the first time the inner center of your being appears — and there is a reason for this. To do anything in the world, effort is required. But to do something in the inner realm, no effort is needed. Only relaxation. Just as in the outer world doing is the art, in the inner world the art is not-doing.

— Osho, “The Book of Secrets, Vol. 2”