According to Osho, love is always present—but not as a changing relationship; it is an ever-available state of being, like the moon ever in the sky even when unseen. Personal loves are fragile reflections; real love is unconditional, self-born radiance from a centered, awakened consciousness that cannot be disturbed and naturally overflows to all.
Real love is like the moon always in the sky—it lives inside you all the time; the love that comes and goes with people is just its wobbly reflection on a lake.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
The Rebellious Spirit · Discourse 26
1987-02-23 · Chuang Tzu Auditorium · English
Beloved Osho, there is the love between man and woman -- active, sensual and playful; and the love between master and disciple -- passive, cool and silent; and there is the possibility of simply being love every moment. Is love something that is always changing, coming and going, taking on different flavors and colors, or is love simply everything that is and every moment that is?
From your so-called love affairs, learn only one thing: that there must be something authentic and real and eternal which is reflected in the mirrors of your relationships. Unless you know that love, you will suffer much, and you will gain nothing. And it can be known because it is your intrinsic capacity; you are born with the seed. You just have to take a little care with it, and it will start growing. Soon you will be full of flowers -- the spring has come. And once it comes, it never goes. To the very last moment it remains there. A very beautiful story is told about Gautam Buddha. He informed his disciples that on a particular day, the coming full moon night, he was going to die. As the full moon disappeared, he would also disappear. It is a rare coincidence that Gautam Buddha was born on a…Read the full discourse →
Sermons In Stones · Discourse 13
1986-12-12 · English
Question: BELOVED OSHO, SITTING IN MY ROOM THOUSANDS OF KILOMETERS AWAY FROM YOU, I CAN FEEL YOU. AND IF HAD HAVE EYES TO SEE, I WOULD SEE YOU STANDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. I REMEMBER WHEN YOU SAID TO US IN DISCOURSE `IF YOU DON'T FEEL ME WHEN YOU ARE NOT HERE, YOU HAVEN'T LET ME IN.' IT'S SO TRUE -- BUT WHAT A GIFT THAT YOU REALLY, REALLY CAME WHEN I WAS OPEN, THAT YOU REALLY FILLED MY BEING. IN SOME MOMENTS SITTING IN FRONT OF YOU I GOT IT. IN OTHER MOMENTS IT HAPPENED BUT I WASN'T AWARE OF IT AT THAT MOMENT. PUTTING THIS OUT TO YOU MY HEART IS BEATING FASTER AND MY HANDS ARE TREMBLING. FOR THE FIRST TIME I FEEL TO SHOW SOMETHING OF MYSELF. THIS IS A GIFT ALSO.Read the full discourse →
Yoga The Alpha And The Omega Vol 7 · Discourse 8
1976-01-08 · Buddha Hall · English
Osho, your answer about the heart which was approximately yogi reminded me of the following interchange: wife: "darling, since we married, do you love me more, or less?" husband: "more or less."
To ask about love in terms of more or less is stupid, because love can neither be more nor less. Either it is or it is not. It is not a quantity; it is a quality. It cannot be measured; it is immeasurable. You cannot say more, you cannot say less. The question is irrelevant, but lovers go on asking because they don't know what love is. Whatsoever they know must be something else. It cannot be love because love is not quantitative. How can you love more? How can you love less? Either you love or you don't love. Love surrounds you, fills you totally, or disappears completely and is not there... not even a trace is left behind. Love is a totality. You cannot divide it; division is not possible. Love is indivisible. If you have not come across such love which is indivisible then be alert. Then…Read the full discourse →
The True Sage · Discourse 2
1975-10-12 · Buddha Hall · English
Do you love me?
No! Never! Because I don't do anything. ]f you feel my love, it is not because I love you; it is because I AM love. So you can feel it, but I have nothing to do with it. It is just like when a flower opens and the fragrance spreads. Not that the flower is doing anything to spread it, not that there is any effort on the flower's part to spread it, not that because you were passing by the side, the flower threw its fragrance towards you, no. Even if nobody was passing the fragrance would be floating around the empty path. It would fill the empty path It is not directed; there is no effort. It simply is; the flower has bloomed. Nothing to do. When the flower blooms, fragrance spreads. When you attain to your innermost being, love spreads. Love is the fragrance. What YOU call…Read the full discourse →
Unio Mystica Vol 2 · Discourse 4
1978-12-14 · Buddha Hall · English
What is love?
I love you too, Buddha loves, Jesus loves, but their love demands nothing in return. Their love is given for the sheer joy of giving it; it is not a bargain. Hence the radiant beauty of it, hence the transcendental beauty of it. It surpasses all the joys that you have known. When I talk about love, I am talking about love as a state. It is unaddressed: you don't love this person or that person, you simply love. You are love. Rather than saying that you love somebody, it will be better to say you are love. So whosoever is capable of partaking, can partake. Whosoever is capable of drinking out of your infinite sources of being, you are available -- you are available unconditionally. That is possible only if love becomes more and more meditative. `Medicine' and `meditation' come from the same root. Love as you know it…Read the full discourse →