According to Osho, joy originates in your being and flows outward through the heart, which is only a vehicle for its expression. As you deepen into being, the heart's channel becomes clearer, wider, and more radiant; joy does not drop, it intensifies. Centered in being, you don't have joy; you are joy, so drop attachment and imitation, and let it naturally express.
Joy comes from the deepest you and shines through your heart; get quiet inside and stop clinging or copying, and it will show by itself.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved Osho, does joy arise out of the heart or out of the being? If it comes out of the heart, does it drop away when one reaches the being? If so, how come you are radiating so much joy? Osho, I am so attached to joy and grace. Do I even need to drop them?
Any kind of stupid fashion and people will imitate, thinking that "perhaps if all these intelligent people are doing it and I am not doing it, I will be thought unintelligent." But imitation is unintelligent. It is perfectly good to be in search of your being, which is the source of joy and bliss and truth and love and all that is valuable in existence. Of course it needs the heart for a few values to be expressed, and mind for other values to be expressed. Your being is utterly intelligent, but intelligence can be expressed only through the mind. And your being is immensely loving, but love can be expressed only through the heart. Right now you have forgotten about the being and you are only carrying instruments with nothing to express. It is just like carrying a guitar, and you don't know why you are carrying this thing…
This alone is the difference between worldly and unworldly. The worldly thinks it is somewhere outside. When you are delighted by seeing a beautiful woman, the delight too comes from within you. When people garland you and you feel happy—that happiness also rises from within. Whenever anyone gives you any kind of pleasure—watch carefully—does it come from there, or flow from within? The outer is merely a pretext; the source is within. The outer is an excuse; the root is within. One who is free of excuses and begins to taste the nectar—Ashtavakra calls him 'ātmārāmasya'—one who now takes his joy in the Atman alone. No more bonds remain upon him. No one in the world can make him miserable now. All his delusions are broken. He has found the source. This source is within. We reach it by going in circles. Because of the circling, many entanglements are created.
Live in joy, in love, even among those who hate.
LIVE IN JOY, IN HEALTH, EVEN AMONG THE AFFLICTED. LIVE IN JOY, IN PEACE, EVEN AMONG THE TROUBLED. LIVE IN JOY, WITHOUT POSSESSIONS, LIKE THE SHINING ONES. THE WINNER SOWS HATRED BECAUSE THE LOSER SUFFERS. LET GO OF WINNING AND LOSING AND FIND JOY. THERE IS NO FIRE LIKE PASSION, NO CRIME LIKE HATRED, NO SORROW LIKE SEPARATION, NO SICKNESS LIKE HUNGER, AND NO JOY LIKE THE JOY OF FREEDOM. HEALTH, CONTENTMENT AND TRUST ARE YOUR GREATEST POSSESSIONS, AND FREEDOM YOUR GREATEST JOY. LOOK WITHIN. BE STILL. FREE FROM FEAR AND ATTACHMENT KNOW THE SWEET JOY OF THE WAY. HOW JOYFUL TO LOOK UPON THE AWAKENED AND TO KEEP COMPANY WITH THE WISE. HOW LONG THE ROAD TO THE MAN WHO TRAVELS WITH A FOOL. BUT WHOEVER FOLLOWS THOSE WHO FOLLOW THE WAY DISCOVERS HIS FAMILY, AND IS FILLED WITH JOY. FOLLOW THEN THE SHINING ONES, THE WISE, THE AWAKENED,…
Osho, you say that getting lost in bhajan is an intoxication. You also say that if we seek joy in swimming, in play, in meditation, joy is lost—and that when we dissolve in them, joy itself finds us. Please clarify immersion, and the boundary-lines between awareness and unawareness.
Doing bhajan in order to get lost is intoxication; getting lost while doing bhajan is not intoxication. Let me repeat. It is a little intricate, subtle—but you will understand. To do bhajan so that you can get lost—only to get lost—is intoxication. There is anxiety in life, sorrow, pain, tension, restlessness, anguish. One wants to escape it, to forget it, to keep oneself busy anywhere so it is forgotten. Someone goes to the cinema and forgets for two hours; someone sits in a bar and forgets for two hours; someone goes to the temple and begins kirtan and forgets there. These are different methods of forgetting, but all three have the same aim—to forget anxiety. But when you return home, anxiety is waiting. You are the same as before; those two hours have gone to waste; nothing of substance has happened. Those two hours will not dissolve anxiety. Seeking to…
[NOTE: This is an unedited tape transcript of an unpublished darshan diary, which has been scanned and cleaned up. It is for reference purposes only.] [Turn in -- that's where the turning on happens. Osho talked first tonight to Dhyan Gail from Canada.] Man lives in misery only for one single reason, that he goes on desiring joy but never searches for its source, from where exactly it arises. And the problem becomes more complex because all our senses open outwards. When you see a beautiful sunset and you feel joyous you naturally think that the joy is arising out of the beautiful sunset. That is not true. Tue beautiful sunset has simply triggered a process of meditation in you; it is so beautiful that your thinking has stopped. You are in a state of awe; it has possessed you.