How does underdeveloped love transform into devotion?

Osho, is love the parent of devotion, or is devotion the parent of love? Is love the bud and devotion the flower? Or is love the beginning and devotion the end? Or are they different?

The bud and the flower are both one and different. The beginning and the end are joined, and yet apart. A bud can remain a bud; to become a flower is possible, not inevitable. A seed can remain a seed; it could have become a tree, but it is not necessary that it will. The seed is separate—it has its own existence—and it is also the possibility of the tree. But a tree can be only if there is a seed, first. And a tree can be only if the seed disappears, second. First it must be, and then it must die; only then can the tree be. If there is no love, there is no possibility of devotion. And if love remains only love and does not go beyond, then too there is no possibility of devotion. If love stops at love, devotion will never be born. And if…

4. Suppose you are gradually being deprived of strength or of knowledge. At the instant of deprivation, transcend.

5. DEVOTION FREES. But either way one goes on worrying about the future. Buddha said, "There is no heaven and no afterlife." And he said, "There is no soul, and your death will be total and complete; nothing will survive." People thought he was an atheist. He was not, he was just trying to create a situation in which you can forget the tomorrow and can remain in this very moment, here and now. Then meditation follows very easily. So if you are thinking of death -- not the death which will come, or is to come later -- fall down on the ground and lie dead. Relax and feel, "I am dying, I am dying, I am dying." And not only think it, feel it in every limb of the body, in every fib of the body. Let death creep in. It is one of the most beautiful meditations.…

Beloved Osho, the other day when you said something like, the more devoted one is the more one can absorb you, I got scared. I don't know what devotion is. In fact, I know it less now than I did five years ago. Osho, am I missing?

When love is so deep, the respect is so immense that everything is forgiven, the disciple can slap the master and yet the master simply laughs -- because he knows his devotion. He knows that this slap has not come from a logical mind, it has come from a loving heart. It is as if with his own hand he has slapped himself -- no distinctions are there anymore. Even to say that the devotee is close to the master is not right, because closeness is still a distance. The devotee is one with the master. His oneness is something not of this world. I will tell you another story -- because there is no other way to explain it. A master is staying in a temple. The night is cold. And in Japan the statues of Buddha are made of wood. There are many statues in the temple, so…

Osho, why do you liken devotion to love? Is there no other apt analogy?

I know why this question has arisen in you. For centuries your so‑called religious people have condemned love—called it base, impure, a sin. Hence you feel, “Wouldn’t some other analogy be better?” Somewhere within you there is condemnation of love—rejection, fear. I understand you—and I understand your so‑called saints as well. But the one who fears love has not understood love; the fear has arisen out of ignorance. The one who is afraid of the courtyard has not understood it. The courtyard had walls—and it had the sky; he focused on the walls and forgot the sky. I want you to focus on the sky and forget the walls. The walls are there and will remain. Man is encased in the wall of body; as long as you have a body, there will be walls. How will they disappear? You cannot get rid of even your own wall—how will you…

Osho, what is the real meaning of bhakti-bhava—the spirit of devotion?

Good sir! Ever fallen in love and such? Bhakti is simply the culmination of love. If you’ve never loved, I won’t be able to make you understand. If you have, the point can begin to land. These things are of experience; some taste in that direction is needed. A man once came to Nagarjuna and said, “Take me too on the journey to That.” He was a poor man. Nagarjuna asked, “Have you ever loved anyone?” He said, “Love? Well, why hide it from you—there’s a buffalo I own; it’s her that I love. I’m a poor man, I have nothing else, but I’m very attached to her. If she ever goes missing in the forest, it feels like my life is in danger. If she falls ill, I can’t find peace.” He must have been a simple, straightforward man—otherwise how could he have spoken so truly? People usually talk…