What is the secret to achieving a long life?

Question: BELOVED OSHO, WHY SUCH AN ENORMOUS FEAR OF ALLOWING MYSELF TO BE REALLY ALIVE? His condition was that when they found him dead they should immediately sign the death certificate. After ten minutes, slowly he would start breathing again, the pulse would come back, the heartbeat would come back, and slowly he would open his eyes and smile at the doctors. He collected these death certificates so many times, in so many medical colleges, in so many universities, that it became a great puzzle. The doctors could not believe it; all the symptoms had been absolutely clear. What was his secret? His secret has been known for centuries in the East. I don't want you to waste thirty years just to prove it -- that is useless -- but on a smaller basis you can experience it while you meditate. As meditation deepens, your breathing becomes slower, silent.

And think of life without love. It is pointless. For what will you live? So these two things are the most cherished things, and people are the most afraid of them. These are the two things for which people should live ! But these are the two things of which they are most afraid. Naturally everybody lives in misery and hell. So remain happy, and after three weeks, report to me. For these three weeks, just remain happy, with no problems, no other questions about love or this and that -- nothing. Simply be happy, purely happy, and then I will see, mm? Good ! [A 70-year-old sannyasin asks if he is too old to meditate. Osho says he is not old. The sannyasin replies:... once I very nearly did meditate unconsciously. That was in the war.

Question: THE BUDDHA ASKED A MONK: HOW DO YOU MEASURE THE LENGTH OF A MAN'S LIFE? THE MONK ANSWERED, "BY DAYS." THE BUDDHA SAID: YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE WAY. THE BUDDHA ASKED ANOTHER MONK: HOW DO YOU MEASURE THE LENGTH OF A MAN'S LIFE? THE MONK ANSWERED, "BY THE TIME THAT PASSES DURING A MEAL." THE BUDDHA SAID: YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE WAY. THE BUDDHA ASKED A THIRD MONK: HOW DO YOU MEASURE THE LENGTH OF A MAN'S LIFE? THE MONK ANSWERED, "BY THE BREATH." THE BUDDHA SAID: VERY WELL, YOU KNOW THE WAY. THE BUDDHA ASKED A MONK: HOW DO YOU MEASURE THE LENGTH OF A MAN S LIFE? THE MONK ANSWERED, "BY DAYS." Now, in an English translation, saying 'by breath' does not seem to be so significant as it appeared to Buddha when the monk said, "By PRANA.

Question: BELOVED OSHO, YOU HAVE TOLD US THAT THE MIND BECOMES MORE AND MORE QUIET IF WE MEDITATE REGULARLY. LAST YEAR, WHEN I WAS LIVING IN EUROPE OUTSIDE OF A COMMUNE, THOUGHTS BECAME STRONGER AND STRONGER DURING MY MEDITATIONS UNTIL I BEGAN TO DREAD SITTING. NOW THAT I AM WITH YOU AGAIN, THIS PROBLEM HAS GONE AWAY. BUT I WONDERED: HOW CAN ONE BE A SANNYASIN FOR TEN YEARS, MEDITATING EVERY DAY, AND HAVE A MIND WHICH BECOMES MORE AND MORE NOISY? Scientists say there is no reason for the body to die for at least three hundred years. It is just an old hypnosis, autohypnosis, which has made the idea prevalent that you have only seventy years to live. It goes so deep in your consciousness that by the seventieth year you start thinking you are sinking, you are gone.

Question: BELOVED OSHO, THEN ALMITRA SPOKE, SAYING, WE WOULD ASK NOW OF DEATH. AND HE SAID: YOU WOULD KNOW THE SECRET OF DEATH. BUT HOW SHALL YOU FIND IT UNLESS YOU SEEK IT IN THE HEART OF LIFE? THE OWL WHOSE NIGHT-BOUND EYES ARE BLIND UNTO THE DAY CANNOT UNVEIL THE MYSTERY OF LIGHT. IF YOU WOULD INDEED BEHOLD THE SPIRIT OF DEATH, OPEN YOUR HEART WIDE UNTO THE BODY OF LIFE. FOR LIFE AND DEATH ARE ONE, EVEN AS THE RIVER AND THE SEA ARE ONE. IN THE DEPTH OF YOUR HOPES AND DESIRES LIES YOUR SILENT KNOWLEDGE OF THE BEYOND; AND LIKE SEEDS DREAMING BENEATH THE SNOW YOUR HEART DREAMS OF SPRING. TRUST THE DREAMS, FOR IN THEM IS HIDDEN THE GATE TO ETERNITY.