Why does love for the Lord make one mad?

Osho, why does love for the Lord make one mad?

People ask me: Where is the heart? One day a young man asked, “Where exactly in the body is the heart located?” I said to him, “Your head is inside you; you are inside the heart.” The heart is not inside you. Do not mistake these lungs, pumping air, for the heart—they are only an apparatus for purifying air. You are within the heart. The heart is bigger than you. The head is smaller than you. The web of thoughts that spreads inside the head—that is yours, your private world. It is not the world of truth; it is the world of falsity, the world of dreams. The moment your energy slips out of the noose of the head— the moment you step outside the head—the courtyard of the Vast opens: the courtyard of your heart. It is as vast as the sky. Within you lies a sky as immense…

What's the difference between a madman and a devotee?

Now he is no longer fighting; there is no more conflict. He is surrendered, he is in a let-go. He trusts life, he has faith, and he knows that nothing wrong is going to happen. He's not afraid. Even in death he will go laughing and singing, ecstatic, because even in death God is waiting for him. Death also becomes a door. Of course to the logical mind this man looks mad and he is mad, in a sense, because whatsoever he is doing is beyond the comprehension of reason. But to me, he is not mad. Ask Jesus -- to him he is not mad. Ask Buddha -- to him he is not mad. In fact, he's the only sane person, because now he no longer thinks, he lives; now he is no longer divided, but total; now there is no duality in him -- he is a unity.…

Osho, I am a love‑lorn woman gone mad; Beloved, I go insane when I behold your form!

Kusum! Love is mad. But it is in that madness that its glory and dignity lie. Prayer is the purest form of madness. Beyond it there is no madness at all. And prayer is the bridge that joins one to the Divine. Madness can be of two kinds. One is when someone falls below the level of intellect; the other is when someone goes beyond intellect. In both states the intellect drops. It drops for the one we ordinarily call mad; and it drops for the lover and the devotee as well. He is mad in an extraordinary sense. He has gone beyond the mind. The last is like the first. The goal is to return to the source. That is why the supreme saint becomes as simple, as guileless as a small child. But remember—“as”; he does not become a small child. There is a famous saying of Jesus:…

Osho, “O friend, I am mad in love; none knows my ache. I know not aarti or worship’s ways; I have cupped the two lamps of my eyes. O friend, I am mad in love; none knows my ache. There is nothing but tears. What can I offer you?”

Love is the door to living, to knowing. Love is a unique path to knowing. One path is scripture-knowledge, word-knowledge—that is a fraud of knowing. It only creates the appearance that you have known; nothing comes to knowing through it. Read the Vedas, read the Koran, read the Bible—you will memorize words, you will begin to repeat those words. They are beautiful, lovely words. Repeating them you will even feel good; your heart will feel tickled. But you came empty and you will go empty. Parrots repeating “Ram-Ram, Ram-Ram,” muttering mantras, turning rosaries—thus you will die. By intellect one does not know; one knows by the heart. By logic one does not know; one knows by love. Love is the way of knowing. But it is a very mad way, a very crazy way. That is why only a few gather the courage. Only a few dare. Who wishes to…

Question: The fifth question: Osho, will you leave me only after making me mad? At times we thought of the Beloved, at times we talked of the Beloved; On this meager merchandise we kept our trade going. Just talk—only talk! Sometimes you remembered, sometimes you spoke—but your entire business remained just talk. We do not complain of separation—for by this very means We kept the bond of heart with Him firm. And now what complaint will you make? With only this much you wanted God to be attained? With only this you wanted life to be yours? What did you give? What did you stake? On days when there was no reason at all to wait, Among them we kept waiting for none but You. There is no reason in your life why life should be granted to you; no reason why God should shower on you.