What is happening when my heart pounds in the presence of love?

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.

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…

Beloved Osho, whenever I hear sannyasins talk about their relationship to you, I hear them say that they have fallen in love with you. For me, something else seems to be true. Mostly, I am afraid of you and of what you are giving. Is there something wrong with me? Am I not a sannyasin?

There are some other stories of that kind in the world, but this is the most significant. The others may have some fact -- this seems to be non-factual, but many books of that time repeated that it happened, that there were eyewitnesses who heard it. Life is mysterious. Sometimes things can happen which may not be immediately explainable. A similar story is told about Rana Sanga, a great warrior who was fighting -- and his fighting method was his own. When warriors fight in the war, in one hand they have their sword, and in the other hand a protective shield. That was not the way of the man, Rana Sanga. He used to fight with two swords, one in each hand, and with no protective shield. And he used to rush into the army of the enemy like a whirlwind, cutting this way and that way. It was…

... and whenever you feel that the heart is there, give it your total cooperation. Rejoice in it, dance with it, sway. Don't be a miser; don't hold anything. Just let go... what Sufis call fana. Just die in it totally. Disappear into it. Become such a participant that you are no more there. With the heart, drown yourself in the rejoicing, in the joy of it. In the fana -- that is the exact word. It means to disappear, dissolve. Then you will see, within a week, a shift. The heart will become predominant more and more. The mind will be there to interfere less and less. You will feel a leaning towards the heart more and more. Further away the mind is still going on with its mechanical work -- but very far away... as if on some other planet, far away on some other star.

You said that when two beings are in love they are in communion with each other. Then why does the world call it 'falling' in love when it is such an ecstatic happening and not a fall to a lower plane?

The world calls it falling in love because the world is ruled by the head, and heart is lower than the head. When somebody falls in love he falls from the head towards the hear And heart is there in childhood, head grows later on. Head is a later growth. You are born with a heart, you are not born with a head. You are born only with the possibility of a head, not with the head. Reason has to be taught, love cannot be taught. Reason has to be forced on you, your mind has to be conditioned. Schools, colleges, universities exist for reason, there exists no school, no college, no university for love -- there is no need! One is born with a heart already functioning perfectly. The head is just a possibility. If it is taught, conditioned, it will function; if not, it won't function at all.…