According to Osho, when deep emotion or tears arise during recitations, it means your heart has received the rishi’s living essence before the intellect could. This is not madness but sacred receptivity—satsang honors such tears. Let the heart be master and the mind its servant; once the heart is drenched, understanding follows naturally. Don’t defend; stay open, and allow the wave of feeling to transform you.
Your tears mean your heart understood the truth in the verses before your head did—and that’s a good thing.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, before the discourse, when Jagjivan’s verses were recited, my heart suddenly filled, my eyes welled up, and as the recitation continued my tears kept flowing on their own. When the recitation ended, the tears stopped. I understood the meaning of those verses after your discourse. Why did this happen?
Sumer Singh, you are fortunate that your feeling was soaked, and afterward understanding came. First dive, then understand. First be colored, then understand. First let things descend into the heart; afterward the intellect will do the arithmetic on its own. Those who say, “First we will do the intellectual accounting, and then we will drown the heart”—their heart never drowns, because the intellect’s accounting is never complete. It never completes! The intellect never comes to a conclusion; it has no conclusions. The intellect does not know how to conclude. It cannot conclude, because its nature is doubt. The heart’s nature is trust. The intellect can doubt, can think; it cannot conclude. The heart cannot think, cannot doubt; it takes the leap—and the conclusion happens. These two processes are very different. Therefore conversation between the intellectual and the feeling one cannot really happen; even in conversation, dilemma arises, dispute arises. There…
Beloved Osho, during your first discourse on the mahagita many people were weeping streams of tears. What does this mean? Are those who were crying weak hearted or is it the power of your voice? Please throw some light on this.
Everywhere in the world it has always been like this. Politicians only have lust for power, they are not concerned with order or revolt. Yes, when they are not keeping order, when the power is not in their hands, then they say everything is wrong; then a revolution is needed. And as soon as they come to power, revolution isn't needed any more because the work of the revolution is complete. Its work was this -- to bring him to power -- the job is done. Then whoever mentions revolution is an enemy. And those that speak of revolution also have nothing to do with it. It is an amazing thing to watch -- it is happening every day, and still man does not become alert. All revolutionaries become counter-revolutionary when they come to power. And all ousted politicians become revolutionaries as soon as they step down from office. Political…
Osho, when I listen to you, every word sinks to the depths of my heart and stirs me. But when I read you, it remains a mental game. Please tell me why this happens.
It’s plain. The arithmetic is simple. When you read, only you are there; I am not. What you read is nothing but you. It becomes a game of the mind. When you listen to me, then sometimes—knowingly or unknowingly—I also slip into you. You seldom give such a chance, but now and then a lapse happens on your side. Unaware, you leave the door a little open—and I come in. So when you are hearing me, it’s a different matter. That is why truth has always been spoken, not written. It cannot be written. Even speaking it is very difficult, yet it can still be said—at least a little can be said, a little news can be given. Because in speaking, many elements are involved that are lost in writing. When you read a book, the book is dead. A book cannot create an atmosphere around you. A book has…
I don't understand what you say, Osho, but while sitting alone or in discourse something happens to me and tears start coming out of my eyes. What is this all, oh my master?
SO YOU HAVE STARTED LISTENING TO ME. Shivananda, that's the way to listen to me -- through tears. That's the way to listen to me -- through love, through the heart. Pulsate with me. Let my words be drowned into your tears. You will not be at a loss, because what I am saying is not important. Far more important is some other energy that goes surrounding those words that reach you. Don't pay too much attention to the words. If your heart is open, the energy will be released into the heart. My words are just carriers, they are containers. The content is utterly different. The content is diametrically opposite. The container is the word, but the content is a wordless silence. It is my love. The word is just a capsule. The capsule is not the medicine; the medicine is inside it. Forget about the capsule. Drink me…
Beloved Osho, during your first discourse on the mahagita many people were weeping streams of tears. What does this mean? Are those who were crying weak hearted or is it the power of your voice? Please throw some light on this.
Everywhere in the world it has always been like this. Politicians only have lust for power, they are not concerned with order or revolt. Yes, when they are not keeping order, when the power is not in their hands, then they say everything is wrong; then a revolution is needed. And as soon as they come to power, revolution isn't needed any more because the work of the revolution is complete. Its work was this -- to bring him to power -- the job is done. Then whoever mentions revolution is an enemy. And those that speak of revolution also have nothing to do with it. It is an amazing thing to watch -- it is happening every day, and still man does not become alert. All revolutionaries become counter-revolutionary when they come to power. And all ousted politicians become revolutionaries as soon as they step down from office. Political…