According to Osho, the heart cannot formulate questions—it has no language—yet it stirs the mind to ask on its behalf. In this handoff, feeling becomes thought, and the mind translates, distorts, or even reverses the heart’s intent, like turning poetry into mathematics. Thus most questions are mind-made echoes of the heart’s inarticulate longing for presence, love, and trust.
Your heart feels but can’t speak, so your mind speaks for it—and often gets the message wrong.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved Osho, if the heart cannot ask questions, then is it my mind that bleeds like a heart when I ask you certain things?
The heart cannot ask any questions, but it can trigger the mind to ask questions for it. The heart itself has no language, but it has a way of its own to trigger the mind to ask its questions. Of course in this transfer from heart to mind, the question changes its form; it is no more exactly the same. Sometimes it can even be the opposite. That's why the heart may weep and cry. It feels helpless. It cannot ask. It has to use the mind, and the mind can ask only in a way which is of the mind and not of the heart. It is like you give poetry to a mathematician and tell him to translate poetry into mathematics. If the mathematician is intelligent he will refuse: "This is nonsense. It cannot be done. How can poetry be translated into mathematics?" But if he is some…
Osho, before you even a word does not pass my lips. See, I have come with so many things thought out in my heart. Do not come because I say so, do not come because I call you—but do not dishonor these tears. Because I am Osho’s bride! The one who has asked has asked from the heart.
There are two kinds of questions—those of the intellect and those of the heart. Questions of the intellect have no real value—worth a couple of pennies; they are like an itch. Just as one feels like scratching an itch, the intellect too wants to be scratched. But questions of the heart have great value, because they arise from feeling and are closer to the soul. Thought is very far from the soul; action is even farther. Action is farthest, thought less far, feeling nearer—and beyond feeling is being itself. So feeling is the closest.
Osho, did the heart say anything? Nothing at all. Did the heart hear anything? Nothing at all. Do conversations happen like this? They happen exactly like this!
That is why people have become frightened of love. They talk of love; they do not love. Talking can be done from the skull. But to do—to love—you have to enter life’s trackless forest. There are dangers upon dangers. People hear about love, they understand, they sing songs, they read stories—but they do not love. Because to love means to efface yourself. Only when the ego is lost does the sprouting of love happen. And one who has not known love—the unfortunate one who has not known love—how will he know prayer? Prayer is the culmination of love. It is love’s final distillation, its ultimate essence. “Did the heart say anything? Nothing at all. Did the heart hear anything? Nothing at all. Do conversations happen like this? This is exactly how they happen!” Within, such waves keep arising. There the distance between yes and no is not. There yes is…
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…
Osho, which is the voice of the mind and which is the voice of the heart? What is the criterion to know? Please explain.
All voices are of the mind; the heart has no voice. Where voices disappear, there is the heart. Silence is the heart’s voice. Emptiness is the heart’s tone. So there is no complication at all. You think one voice is of the heart and another of the mind; you are falling into a great mistake. All voices are of the mind. It is the mind. It is the mind that wants to grasp wealth, and the mind that wants to renounce wealth. The mind is very complex. On one side it says, “Grab it, plunder it, enjoy!” On the other it says, “What’s the point? It’s all insubstantial.” But both are the mind. On one side it says, “Run! Life is only for a few days—win some position.” From the other side it says, “What’s in positions? Look at those who have arrived.” The mind keeps talking to itself, keeps…