Your mind doubts and dismisses brief happy moments as unreal, but beneath that noise your true nature is steady joy—notice the doubt and set it aside.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved Osho, sometimes I realize how much I am afraid of the unknown. I have experienced moments of total trust and moments of bliss. What are the tricks of the mind to avoid these beautiful experiences again and again?
But a man of blissfulness has his tremendous freedom -- it comes with it. A man of love cannot be enslaved. Freedom, love, joy create the real individual you are. They are the qualities you are made of. And the society tries to hide that individual, repress that individual -- and creates a phony individual which it can manipulate. But nothing is perfect in the world. The society does everything, but still there are loopholes. There are moments when your real nature asserts. Soon the mind catches hold of you, convinces you that it was illusory: "You are just imagining. It never happened -- I am the reality." So you have to be conscious of this strategy. The mind is not yours, it is your enemy. Don't listen to it. Whatever it says goes against you. Listen to something that comes not from the mind -- that's why it looks…Read the full discourse →
Osho, a rain of bliss is pouring over me; I feel the urge to thank you for it. But I don’t know whether bliss is truly raining, or I am imagining it, or exaggerating!
The human mind is very troublesome. When there is suffering it believes; when there is joy it doubts. No one ever suspects suffering, wondering, “Perhaps this is only imagination!” Suffering you accept straight away—with great conviction and faith. I have never met a person who says, “I am very miserable, but I doubt whether I truly am or am just imagining it! Perhaps I am exaggerating my suffering!” No one says that. We accept suffering. We have great faith in it. But when the wave of bliss arrives, doubts begin to rise: maybe it’s imagination, maybe a dream, maybe self-hypnosis. Perhaps I have fallen into some delusion! Am I exaggerating? Am I going mad? A thousand such questions arise. This needs to be looked into. You accept suffering because suffering is the nature of the mind. You cannot accept bliss because bliss is not the nature of the mind. Bliss…Read the full discourse →
Osho, while meditating I experience peace and joy, yet alongside a thin stream of thought keeps flowing. In this state, is the peace I feel a trick of the mind?
The mind is very strange. It never doubts; if there is suffering it never asks, “Is this a trick of the mind?” If there is anger, it never asks, “Is this a trick of the mind?” But if a little peace is felt, trust does not arise. The mind says, “It must be a deception. Can you receive more peace? Impossible. Can you experience more joy? That cannot be. Surely there is some mistake somewhere.” You have lost so much trust in yourself. You have tied your destiny to darkness. You have made melancholy your fate. If, in a moment of that melancholy, even a single ray of the sun descends, you think, “It must be a dream. A sunray, and descending upon me? Impossible. Only darkness can descend upon me.” Why have you come to believe this? And if this is your belief, so it will be—because your belief…Read the full discourse →
But Osho, as I understand it, there are certain subjects like chemistry, physics, or medicine where positive values are essential. What are your views about that?
Einstein was doing an experiment. He had failed seven hundred times, yet every morning he came into the laboratory laughing, ready to begin again. The young assistant with him was exhausted. “Is this old man mad? Seven hundred failures—and again he starts fresh!” The youth was tired; he said, “We should drop this now. How many times have we been defeated?” Einstein said, “Defeated? You’re crazy—each time we have won.” “Where have we won? Every experiment has failed.” Einstein answered, “In seven hundred directions we have searched, and we now know truth is not there. We have succeeded seven hundred times. Truth is being endlessly eliminated into nearness. Suppose truth will reveal itself on the seven hundred and fifteenth attempt; then fourteen more eliminations are needed. Then only that will remain; it cannot escape. Where will it go? We have searched seven hundred paths and found it absent. That much…Read the full discourse →
Question: BELOVED OSHO, THE MIND OFTEN TELLS ME TO BEWARE OF MY GREATEST FEAR: THAT ANY WRONG MOVE COULD RESULT IN A FALL AND LEAD ME AWAY FROM YOUR LOVE. AND YET, OSHO, I FEEL NOW AS NEVER BEFORE THAT YOU ARE THE BREATH FLOWING THROUGH ME, THE HEART BEATING WITHIN, THAT YOU ARE ONE WITH ME WHEN I REST BEHIND MY EYES, THAT YOU ARE IN THE OPEN SKY BETWEEN MY BREATHS, THAT YOU LIVE WITHIN EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING -- ABSOLUTELY INSEPARABLE AND PRESENT. O BELOVED ONE, I LONG TO FINALLY RELAX AND NEVER WORRY ABOUT BEING SEPARATE FROM YOU. WHY DO I STILL BELIEVE MY MIND AND WORRY SO MUCH? OR IS IT POSSIBLE THAT WHAT I AM EXPERIENCING IS JUST AN ILLUSION? WITH TEARS OF GRATITUDE, SO MUCH MORE THAN I CAN CONTAIN, I KISS THIS EARTH THAT GIVES YOU TO US.Read the full discourse →