What can we do to transform sorrow into joy?

Osho, I am so familiar with sorrow that I can’t bring myself to trust happiness. One sorrow leaves and another arrives; it just goes on like that. Will I ever have a glimpse of happiness? Show me the path—what should I do to attain happiness? I am ready to do anything.

One sorrow follows another. The son finishes and the father arrives. But the beginning—why did you go to the poet’s house at all? And when he laughed, why didn’t you run away then? When he ordered tea, why didn’t you take the hint? Once you drink the tea, leaving becomes difficult. If you eat someone’s salt, you must play along—otherwise they’ll call you ungrateful! Be careful in advance. Where is the root of sorrow? It is in the ego, in the sense “I am.” This is the root of all diseases; all the ailments are its leaves. And you do not let go of it; you cling to it. Yet it is a sheer, downright untruth. You are not; the divine is. I am not; the divine is. A wave imagines, “I am,” whereas only the ocean is—where is the wave? And once you start living a lie, you must…

Question: BELOVED OSHO, THEN A WOMAN SAID, SPEAK TO US OF JOY AND SORROW. AND HE ANSWERED: YOUR JOY IS YOUR SORROW UNMASKED. AND THE SELFSAME WELL FROM WHICH YOUR LAUGHTER RISES WAS OFTENTIMES FILLED WITH YOUR TEARS. AND HOW ELSE CAN IT BE? THE DEEPER THAT SORROW CARVES INTO YOUR BEING, THE MORE JOY YOU CAN CONTAIN. IS NOT THE CUP THAT HOLDS YOUR WINE THE VERY CUP THAT WAS BURNED IN THE POTTER'S OVEN? AND IS NOT THE LUTE THAT SOOTHES YOUR SPIRIT THE VERY WOOD THAT WAS HOLLOWED WITH KNIVES? WHEN YOU ARE JOYOUS, LOOK DEEP INTO YOUR HEART AND YOU SHALL FIND IT IS ONLY THAT WHICH HAS GIVEN YOU SORROW THAT IS GIVING YOU JOY. WHEN YOU ARE SORROWFUL, LOOK AGAIN IN YOUR HEART, AND YOU SHALL SEE THAT IN TRUTH YOU ARE WEEPING FOR THAT WHICH HAS BEEN YOUR DELIGHT.

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,…

Don't seek sorrow for spurious comforts. All absorptions are effected in one.

ONE METHOD WILL CORRECT ALL WRONG. AT THE BEGINNING AND AT THE END THERE ARE TWO THINGS TO DO. BE PATIENT, WHICHEVER OF THE TWO OCCURS. OBSERVE TWO PRECEPTS EVEN AT THE RISK OF LIFE. LEARN THE THREE DIFFICULTIES. TAKE UP THE THREE PARTS OF THE PRINCIPAL CAUSE. MEDITATE ON THE THREE THINGS NOT TO BE DESTROYED. MAKE THE THREE INSEPARABLE FROM VIRTUE. The Christian cannot recognize Buddha as a buddha. What to say of the Christian -- Mahavira and Buddha were contemporaries, but Jainas don't recognize Gautam Buddha as the awakened one, and Buddhists don't recognize Mahavira as the awakened one. They were contemporaries, in the same province, sometimes lived in the same town and once stayed in the same SERAI. But each buddha has a unique quality, incomparable; hence no previous buddha can be used as a criterion. That creates difficulty. Buddhas are unrecognizable, because your life has…

Another friend has asked: Osho, what is the relationship between the method of meditation and jati-smaran (recollection of past lives)?

But the one who becomes skilled in this—who can fully awaken any day’s memory up to the age of five—will find that the memories begin to awaken completely. And you should test it. As today passes, note down some events and lock them up. After two years, try to recall today. Most of it will have been forgotten. Then remember—and after remembering, break the lock and compare whether what you recalled matches what you had written. You will be amazed—astonished—that besides what you wrote, many more details have come back which you did not even note at the time. They will all be there in memory. Buddha called this alaya-vijnana. There is a corner of the human mind he called the storehouse of consciousness. Like a junk room in the house where we keep all the odds and ends, there is a storehouse that collects memories—where everything from birth after…