Why am I so afraid of death?

Osho, why am I so much afraid of two groups here, the tantra and the encounter?

You see the stupidity? You are making conditions for me. You are trying to bribe me -- as if being called "Bhagwan" by Geet Govind is going to give me something, as if I am interested in being called "Bhagwan" by Geet Govind, or as if his sannyas is something immensely valuable for my existence. Reading his letter I was reminded of T.S. Eliot's lines: We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw. Alas! If you are afraid to face your sexuality -- which is the beginning of your life, which is the source of your life -- and if you are afraid to face your death and the fear that it creates -- which is going to be the end of your life -- you are nothing but a "hollow" man, a "stuffed" man, a "headpiece filled with straw. Alas!" You…

Why are most people so afraid of getting old?

After a few letters the boy said, "Now, arrange a meeting." I said, "That is difficult." He said, "Why?" I said, "You are such a nervous person. I cannot introduce you to the girl because it will be embarrassing for me too." He said, "I will keep my hands in my pockets." I said, "That won't help because I have seen you. Even in your pockets your hands make your whole pants quiver. I'm not going to do it. First you train yourself." He said, "That means I am never going to meet... just love letters?" I said, "To tell you the truth, this girl does not love you. I have been telling her to write letters to you just as a training." He said, "My God. So you have been befooling both of us?" I said, "I was not befooling either, I was just giving you some satisfaction at…

Why do I seem to feel more afraid of life than of death?

DEATH IS UNKNOWN. You cannot be really afraid of that with which you are not at all acquainted. Fear is a relationship -- you have to know something to be afraid of it. Nobody really is afraid of death. And whenever somebody says 'I am afraid of death' he is simply saying that he is afraid to lose life. Death is absolutely unknown. So everybody is afraid of life -- it is life that is the problem, not death. It is life that gives you anguish and nights without sleep. And what is the fear of life? There are many fears but they can be reduced to a few basic fears. One is that life is slipping by and you have not lived yet. That's the panic, basic panic -- that life is going out of your hands, every moment you have less and less life. And you have not…

Osho, to remain awake to life, is the fear of death necessary?

I did not speak of fearing death, because what does fear of death even mean? It is essential to know that death is. The one who does not know this is the one who is afraid. To be afraid means we carry the notion that someday we will die—that what we presently take to be life will be snatched away. So the fear is that death might take away our life. That is what the fear is. But if you come to know that you are already dead, what is there to fear? If you come to see that every day you are dying, that much of you has already died, what is there to fear? As long as what you take to be life appears to you as life, the fear of death appears. And if this very thing begins to be seen as death, what fear of death…

Question: Third question: Osho, I am very afraid of death. What should I do? Ramdas, if you go on only fearing death, you will squander life! People are squandering it just so—trembling at death! Someone is running after wealth, thinking money might save him from death. Someone strives to reach high office, thinking if he becomes president, death won’t so easily take him away. People are making a thousand arrangements. But death will come, it will come. Death cannot be avoided; it is an inescapable part of life. And yet I still tell you: you do not die. You die, and still you don’t. There are two within you. One is what you have taken to be yourself—the “I,” the ego. And one is your soul. Ah, if only you were free of the ego and could see your soul even for a single instant!