What happens when my heart is broken?

Any intensity becomes unbearable, and love is the most intense thing possible in life. And it rarely happens, very rarely, so we remain unaware of the possibility that the heart can feel pain in moments of joy, in moments of intimacy. People have become completely oblivious of their hearts. They live in the head, and if they know of anything they know only of headache. Heartache, the very word has gone out of use; you never hear it. Headache of course is there, but heartache... This is heartache, and it is good. Accept it joyously. Allow it, don't repress it; because the natural tendency of the mind is to repress anything that is painful. By repressing it you will destroy something that was growing. A sprout was coming out and you will destroy it; a door was opening and you will close it.

Ego is the only barrier in love; hence "samarpan", surrender. If ego is the only barrier in love then surrendering the ego opens the door to all the mysteries of love. Learn only one thing because that is the most important thing to learn: surrender the ego, be just a nobody, and you will experience great love -- and the experience of love ultimately becomes the experience of god. [Love's eye beautifies -- that was the meaning of Prem Ruth, Osho explained to a teacher from Germany.] People think that they fall in love because somebody is beautiful or something is beautiful. The truth is just the opposites something appears beautiful because you have fallen in love with it, not vice versa. It is love that makes everything beautiful. The moment you are in love with somebody or something suddenly its beauty is revealed to you.

This is a good sign that you have become aware that you have lost your heart. You have only lost the belief that you had a heart. This is a good sign. If you start feeling the absence of the heart, you will start searching for it; that's how the journey begins. And this place is a love place. Anybody who hasn't a heart will become immediately aware of it, because of the contrast. This is a love temple -- all I teach is love and nothing else, and everybody here is growing into love. The journey is arduous and painful, but sweet too, and each new experience of love brings a new plenitude, a new peak, a new fulfillment, and with it, new challenges. And the adventure continues.... So when you come here, you can become aware, and the mind will say 'What is happening?

So many people at the ashram seem to be having something happening to their heart recently: pain in the heart, burning in the heart, feeling like their heart is about to break with love, with gratitude. I have a tickle in my heart. Sheela says that when your long arm hit her in the lecture the other day, she felt it in her heart. What is happening?

First: the physical heart is not your real heart. The real heart exists just behind the physical heart. The real heart is not part of your physical mechanism at all. The real heart exists in the soul -- it is the centre of the soul. The physical heart is the centre of the body and the spiritual heart is the centre of the soul. They both exist together, side by side. Just behind the physical is the spiritual heart. And it is going to happen to many people, this misunderstanding. When the spiritual heart starts opening, you will have ripples in your physical heart too. They correspond, they are very close together. When something vibrates in the spiritual heart, you will feel echoes in the physical heart too. In fact, you will first feel it only in the physical heart because you don't know anything about the spiritual heart. Your…

Osho, you often tell us to listen to the heart rather than the mind. But how is one to know which voice is the mind’s and which is the heart’s? Please explain with compassion.

Renuka! The matter is absolutely straightforward. There is not the slightest confusion. The mind always points you outward; the heart always points you inward. When something within says, “Go out—earn money, gain position, prestige, ambition,” know it is the mind speaking, because these are not the heart’s longings. When something says, “Sit silently, close your eyes, dive within yourself, take a plunge into your own being, listen to your life-breath, step into the inner sound that is rising,” then know the heart has spoken. The inner journey is the heart’s message; the outer journey is the mind’s. There is no reason for mistake here. When hatred arises, know the mind has spoken; when love arises, know the heart has spoken. When thoughts surround you, know the mind has seized you; when waves of feeling rise, know you are in the heart. When negation arises—an urge to say “no,” when doubt…