Will this feeling of happiness last?

Question: FOR THE LAST TEN DAYS I HAVE FELT TREMENDOUSLY HAPPY -- AS I NEVER DID BEFORE. JUST BEING MYSELF AND ACCEPTING ME AS I AM FEELS GREAT. SOMETIMES THIS INCREDIBLY GOOD FEELING IS DISTURBED BY TWO THOUGHTS. FIRST, WILL THIS STAY THAT WAY? CAN I KEEP THIS FEELING IN THE FUTURE? AND SECOND, WHY DID I HAVE TO BECOME SO OLD BEFORE I REACHED THIS POINT? I CANNOT FORGET AND STILL I FEEL SORRY FOR ALL THOSE YEARS THAT I DID NOT LIVE AT ALL. PLEASE EXPLAIN HOW TO GET RID OF THESE DISTURBANCES OF MY HAPPINESS. And happiness is always herenow. Happiness is something that belongs to the present.

Question: Third question: Osho, in your satsang I am experiencing great joy and life appears to be a celebration. But isn’t the joy of this fleeting life also fleeting? Naked in each other’s arms! At first they were delighted and rushed to embrace. But when ropes tied them to the post, how long does pleasure remain pleasure? Within a few minutes they began to panic: How to separate now? How to be apart? How to get free? But they remained bound. A few hours passed, and then another disturbance began. Evacuation of excreta and urine happened; filth spread. Each other’s mouths began to stink; sweat; such distress. And they had to remain bound for twenty-four hours. As soon as they were released, the story says, they ran away from each other so fast they never saw each other again. The young man even left the village.

Question: Third question: Osho, in intense moments of repentance at the feet of the Buddha, the golden fish remembered its past lives. In moments of grace, too, does one remember past lives? Please tell us. It may be that happiness remains for years; it needn’t be momentary. You fall in love; the love can last for years, and you can be happy through it for years. Yet the statement remains true that happiness is momentary—the years will feel as if they passed like a moment. You’ve seen it in Hindi films: the dates on a calendar fly off in the wind! Just so, in happiness the dates fly by. Happiness is like a Hindi film. Days pass, months pass, years pass—but so swiftly! By its very nature happiness shortens time. Then bliss is another matter altogether; bliss means ultimate happiness.

Question: Second question: Osho, in your presence there is a taste of the depth of meditation, but that state does not remain permanent. Please guide us toward making it permanent! Why do you want to make it permanent at all? The very language of “permanent” is worldly. If it remains for a moment, dance in awe for that much time, dance in gratitude for that much time. Why bring this new nuisance into that very moment—that it must be made permanent? We are not even worthy of what has already been given! Fortunate indeed that, though unworthy, for a moment there was a glimpse of it. Dance! Hum! Rejoice! The next moment will be born from this very moment—where else will it come from? Tomorrow will be born out of today. If today was full of song, then tomorrow will be born from these very songs.

Question: WHY AM I STILL NOT HAPPY? Start losing yourself. You must be too much after it, you must be continuously thinking about it, you must be planning how to attain to it -- then it is never going to happen. If you are too much after happiness, all that happens is hell. If you forget about it, it is a very natural phenomenon. The self-consciousness does not allow it, it makes you very narrow. When the self disappears, when self-consciousness disappears, you are vast like the sky. Suddenly it pours into you. So the art of being happy is the art of forgetfulness. And when I'm saying this, remember: now don't start planning about it how to forget, how not to think about happiness -- otherwise you are again in the same trap. It is not a question of 'how', you simply do it.