How can one get rid of the fear of death?

Osho, there is a great fear of death. Is there any way to be free of it?

I have heard that on his campaigns Alexander reached a place where he learned there was a spring whose water, if drunk, makes one immortal. He went in search of it. When he reached the spring, he rejoiced; never had he seen water so crystal clear. He was about to cup it in his palms when a crow perched on a branch said, “Stop, Alexander! You will regret it. First hear me.” Alexander was astonished—one marvel: water that grants immortality; another marvel: a speaking crow. “What do you want to say?” The crow said, “I too drank this water. I am no ordinary crow; as you are Alexander among men, I am Alexander among crows. I spent my life searching and found this spring. I drank—and now I writhe. I have been alive for thousands of years; I cannot die. I throw myself from cliffs, dash my head on rocks,…

Osho, forget even talking about death—I am afraid of the very word. How can one get rid of death?

Kusum Rani! There is no getting rid of death. One will have to die! Death is the other side of the same coin as birth. Once you are born—once you have taken one side of the coin—how can you avoid the other? Death already happened in birth. It may take you seventy years to find out, that’s all; but the event has already occurred. The very day a child is born, cry then and there; death has arrived. Now, whether anything else happens in life or not, one thing is certain: there will be death. Life is wondrous! In it, nothing is certain except death. Everything else is uncertain—may or may not be; but death will surely be. However much you run and hide, no one can escape death, no one can outrun it. And the more you fear, the more you die. Death comes only once, but to the…

Question: Third question: Osho, I am very afraid of death. What should I do? Ramdas, death is certain—whether you fear it or not. Fear will only do one thing: it won’t let you live rightly. You’ll die before you die. The brave die once, the proverb says; the coward dies every day, dies a thousand deaths. Death is a natural event, like birth. When there is a beginning, there will be an end. And what is the fear about? What will be lost? What do you possess that death could snatch from you? What have you truly attained that death could rob? What are you doing that death could interrupt? You rise in the morning, earn your bread, come back in the evening, go to sleep, and then rise again—this circling like the ox at the oil-press you take to be life?

Can you talk about facing the death of each moment and letting go?

In the West now, there is a craze about how to prolong life. That simply shows that somewhere life is being missed. Whenever a country or a culture -- starts thinking about how to prolong life, it simply shows one thing -- that life is not being lived. If you live life, then even a single moment is enough. A single moment can be equal to eternity. It is not a question of length, it is a question of depth; it is not a question of quantity, it is a question of quality. Just think: would you like one moment of Buddha's life or would you like a thousand years of your own life? Then you will be able to understand what I mean about the quality, the intensity, the depth. In a single moment fulfillment is possible: you can bloom and blossom. But you may not bloom for one…

Osho, to remain awake to life, is the fear of death necessary?

I did not speak of fearing death, because what does fear of death even mean? It is essential to know that death is. The one who does not know this is the one who is afraid. To be afraid means we carry the notion that someday we will die—that what we presently take to be life will be snatched away. So the fear is that death might take away our life. That is what the fear is. But if you come to know that you are already dead, what is there to fear? If you come to see that every day you are dying, that much of you has already died, what is there to fear? As long as what you take to be life appears to you as life, the fear of death appears. And if this very thing begins to be seen as death, what fear of death…