Why is love put to the test by fire?

Question: Third question: Osho, why is love put to the test by fire? Women have discovered subtle ways to fight with men. If a man gets angry, he hits the woman; if a woman gets angry, she hits herself—bangs her head on the wall. Her method is very Gandhian—nonviolent! She beats the child; poor Lallu gets thrashed. Then Lallu’s father thinks, “What’s the point? The child is being beaten for nothing; better if I had kept quiet to begin with.” Your love is a constant quarrel: the woman trying to dominate the man, the man trying to dominate the woman. That is why the garden of love never comes into bloom. Love has to pass through fire. And when love is purified, it becomes reverence—shraddha. Therefore when you go to a true master, he will test your love in many ways.

WHY IS LOVE GIVEN THE TEST OF FIRE? It can only be given to love. Only gold can be thrown into the fire, because the rubbish will burn, gold will remain, will become pure shining gold. The fire test can be given to love because love will not burn in fire. What burns is not love. What remains after the firing is love. And it remains in a purified form. Whatever rubbish was in it... And there is much rubbish in your love. Usually it is love in name only, rubbish is more. Hate too is mixed in your love. Hence your love can instantly turn into hate. It was just love, now it becomes hate. The wife

Consider this: a moment earlier you were completely ready to die and you were saying to your wife, "I cannot live without you. If you die then I will die. You are my soul." And you got up and looked through your old papers and letters. You found an old letter, written by someone to your wife. And you get a glimpse that it is an affair of love. You forget all about your love, pick up a gun and kill your wife. You killed the one you were going to die for. How long does it take for love to become hate? A small letter, a few words, a few lines on paper -- this much is sufficient, and love is gone? How quickly your love turns into jealousy. If your wife is laughing and talking with someone, it is enough, a fire is lit. Your love is love…

OSHO: Love is the most intoxicating phenomenon. It is the wine that wells up within. It is not something chemical that comes from the outside, it is not even part of the body, not part of the mind either. It is the dance of the heart in tune with the whole. Love is your heart in deep harmony with the heart of the universe. Then there is great intoxication. And yet the intoxication does not make you unconscious; on the contrary it makes you more conscious than ever. That's the paradox of love: on one hand one is intoxicated, on the other hand one has never been so aware before. It is an intoxication that makes you wake up. HER SIX-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER: PREM GARIMA, GLORY OF LOVE. NENE BECOMES MA PREM KUNDAN OSHO: It is by passing through the fire of love that one becomes one's real self.

As a sannyasin you have to work hard to make that glimpse a reality to yourself, always available. And it is possible because love is our intrinsic nature. It is not something accidental, it is our very source. So if we work a little, if we dig inside our being we will find the eternal source. And once love is flowing in you for twenty-four hours a day, irrespective of situations, circumstances, you live in the world but you are no more part of it; you have become part of god, you have become part of eternity. All fear disappears. Then you know that birth and death don't make any difference. Only the body is born and the body dies, not you; you are never born and you never die.

Osho, you have kindled the fire of love for the Lord in my heart. Now I am burning. Please calm this fire!

If with the Beloved friendship begins—what can be said! Even if only enmity starts, it is fine; for in enmity too He is remembered. A friend may even forget; an enemy cannot. Do not cut off all connection with me— if not love, then let there be enmity! No worry: if you cannot find me worthy of your love, then let there be enmity—but let your remembrance remain. If with the Friend a quarrel starts, Asad— if not union, then let there be longing. If there is no meeting, no matter; let there be the very longing to meet, let there be the fire to attain! That very fire has caught you. Dance, sing, celebrate! I am amazed at my own thought—that there are intoxications without wine: no wine jar before the eyes, no cupbearer, no goblet at hand. Turning my face from all, I am content with Your remembrance;…