Osho Quotes on Fear of Death

Osho Quotes on Fear of Death

1. If you know your real Self you will never be afraid of death-there is no question.
2. Identifying yourself with the body, you become the body. Then you are a mortal. Then there is fear of death. Non-identifying with the body, you are just a watcher, you are just a pure consciousness, a no-mind. And there is no death and there is no disease and there is no old age. As far as your witnessing is concerned, it is eternal and it is always fresh and young and the same.
3. Wherever you are afraid, try to explore, and you will find death hiding somewhere behind. All fear is of death. Death is the only fear source.
4. When a person is afraid of death, know well that that person has missed life. If he has not missed life there cannot be any fear of death. If a person has lived life, he will be ready to live death also. He will be almost enchanted by the phenomenon of death.
5. You simply think that you have a soul; you believe that you have a soul because of your fear of death. But you have not known unless you have loved. Only in love does one come to feel that one is more than the body, more than the mind.
6. The fear is of losing yourself. It may be in death, it may be in love, but the fear is the same: You are afraid of losing yourself.
7. Death is a quantum jump from one body, from one form into another form. But it is not an end to you. You were never born and you never die. You are always here. Forms come and go and the river of life continues. Unless you experience this, the fear of death will not leave you. You are asking, “Will meditation help me overcome my fear of death?” There is no other way. Only meditation… and only meditation can help.
8. Meditation will help you. Meditation is almost a golden key, a master key which opens many doors. It can open the door of love too. As you become silent, as you become peaceful, as you become aware of your life force, as you become aware there is no death, fear disappears. And with the disappearance of the fear — from the very roots — now there is no point in keeping your heart closed. You can open your heart to friend and foe, to those who are familiar and to those who are strangers. And you will receive gifts which you had not ever imagined.
9. DON’T accumulate anything whatever: power, money, prestige, virtue, knowledge, even the so-called spiritual experiences. Don’t accumulate. If you don’t accumulate you are ready to die any moment, because you have nothing to lose. The fear of death is not really fear of death; the fear of death comes out of the accumulations of life. Then you have too much to lose so you cling to it. That is the meaning of Jesus’ saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit. I don’t mean become a beggar, and I don’t mean renounce the world. I mean be in the world but don’t be of the world. Don’t accumulate inside, be poor in spirit. Never possess anything — and then you are ready to die. Possessiveness is the problem, not life itself. The more you possess, the more you are afraid to lose. If you don’t possess anything, if your purity, if your spirit is uncontaminated by anything, if you are simply there alone, you can disappear any moment; whenever death knocks on the door it will find you ready. You are not losing anything. By going with death you are not a loser. You may be moving into a new experience.
10. A man who has been going deeper into meditation passes the door of death many times. Whenever he goes, he passes it, whenever he comes back… It is simple to understand that death has nothing to do with life. Death is a door. If you move inside the door, you move into the universe. If you move outside the door, you move into mortal existence. And because we go on living on the outside our whole life, the fear of death arises.
11. Man is a part, a very small, tiny part, and the whole is vast: a drop, a very small drop, and the whole is the whole ocean. A trembling arises: “I may be lost in the whole; my identity may be lost.” That is the fear of death. All fear is the fear of death. And the fear of death is the fear of annihilation. It is natural that man is afraid, trembling. If you accept it, if you say that this is how life is, if you accept it totally, trembling stops immediately and fear — the same energy that was becoming fear — uncoils and becomes freedom. Then you know that even if the drop disappears in the ocean, it will be there. In fact, it will become the whole ocean. Then death becomes nirvana, then you are not afraid to lose yourself. Then you understand the saying of Jesus: “If you save your life you will lose it and if you lose it you will save it.”
12. Man has been trying, down the ages, somehow to have some kind of immortality. The fear of death is so much, it haunts you your whole life. The moment you drop the idea of separation, the fear of death disappears. Hence I call this state of surrender the most paradoxical. You die of your own accord and then you cannot die at all, because the whole never dies, only its parts are being replaced. But if you become one with the whole, you will live forever: you will go beyond birth and death. That’s the search for nirvana, enlightenment, moksha, the kingdom of God —  the state of deathlessness. But the condition that has to be fulfilled is very frightening. The condition is: first you have to die as a separate entity. That’s what surrender is all about: dying as a separate entity, dying as an ego. And in fact it is nothing to be worried about, because you are not separate, it is only a belief. So only the belief dies, not you. It is only a notion, an idea.
13. Death does not exist, death is unreal. But you create it: you create it by creating separation. Surrender means dropping the idea of separation: death disappears automatically, fear is found no more, and your whole flavor of life changes. Then each moment is such crystal purity, a purity of delight, joy, bliss. Then each moment is eternity. And to live that way is poetry, to live moment-to-moment without the ego is poetry. To live without the ego is grace, is music; to live without the ego is to live, to really live. That life I call poetry: the life of one who is surrendered to existence. And remember, let me repeat it again: when you surrender to existence you are not surrendering anything real. You are simply surrendering a false notion, you are simply surrendering an illusion, you are surrendering maya. You are surrendering something that you never had with you in the first place. And by surrendering that which you don’t have, you attain to that which you have.
14. Death is encountered in meditation and death is encountered in sexual orgasm. But if you can encounter these deaths, you will become capable of encountering the ultimate death: the death of the ego. And without fear. Once you know that you can lose yourself and yet can be, once you know that losing is not really losing but gaining, once you know that merging is not death but life eternal — once you have known it, there is no death for you. Your body will die, everything that you have will die, but you — the very being, the very ground of your existence — is eternal.
15. Socrates said, “I am entering death, the great mystery. Life is nothing before it. The unknown is opening before me, the unlimited, the uncharted. I am on a great voyage. I am losing myself, but gaining the whole universe, the whole existence.” Don’t be afraid of death. The fear of death debars you from all deep experiences: of love, of meditation, of ecstasy. Once you are afraid of death, you are debarred from all deep experiences. Be ready to die. Then life, eternal life, will be yours. Jesus says, “Whosoever tries to save himself will lose himself. And whosoever is ready to lose himself will attain himself.”
16. Whenever you are afraid, something has given you an indication of death. If your bank goes bankrupt and you are filled with fear and trembling, anxiety — that too is anxiety about death, because your bank balance was nothing but a security against death. Now you are more open, vulnerable. Now who will protect you if death knocks at the door? If you become ill, if you become old, then who is going to take care of you? The guarantee was there in the bank, and the bank has gone bankrupt. You cling to prestige, power, position, because when you have a position you are so significant that you are more protected by people. When you are not in power, you become so impotent that nobody bothers in any way who you are. When you are in power you have friends, family, followers; when you are not in power, everybody leaves. There was a protection, somebody was there to care; now nobody cares. Whatsoever you are afraid of, if you search deeply you will always find the shadow of death somewhere.
17. Whenever fear comes to you, don’t suppress it, don’t repress it, don’t avoid it, don’t get occupied in something so that you can forget about it. No! When fear comes, watch it. Be face to face with it. Encounter it. Look deep into it. Gaze into the valley of fear. Of course you will perspire, and you will tremble, and it will be like a death, and you will have to live it many times. But by and by, the more your eyes become clear, the more your awareness becomes alert, the more your focus is there on the fear, the fear will disappear Like a mist.
18. Buddha says: The master does not tremble. All his trembling disappears because he knows there is no death. Knowing himself he has transcended death. He has no fear of the future because he lives in the present. He is not possessive; hence nothing can be taken away from him.
19. When there is no death there is no fear. All fear is death-oriented, all fear is the shadow of death. When you don’t possess anything you are fearless, when you don’t desire anything you are fearless. Nobody can take anything away from you because you don’t possess anything. Nobody can hinder you because you don’t have any desire. Nobody can obstruct your path, nobody is your enemy. The whole of existence suddenly becomes friendly.
20. Death is not the enemy. To a man who has really lived, death is the friend. It is like sleep. Nobody wants to remain wakeful twenty-four hours a day.
21. You think about death; there is fear. But when death actually happens there is no fear. Fear is always about something in the future. Fear never exists in the present moment.
22. Much is being missed because of fear. We are too attached to the body and we go on creating more and more fear because of that attachment. The body is going to die, the body is part of death, the body is death — but you are beyond the body. You are not the body; you are the bodiless. Remember it. Realize it. Awaken yourself to this truth — that you are beyond the body. You are the witness, the seer. Then death disappears and fear disappears, and there arises the tremendously glorious life — what Jesus calls ‘life abundant,’ or ‘the kingdom of God.’ The kingdom of God is within you.
23. A swordsman, if he is afraid of death, cannot be a real swordsman because the fear will make him tremble. With just a slight trembling inside, a slight thinking inside, he will not be able to act out of no-mind.
24. The whole humanity lives in a paranoia. This humanity could have lived in paradise; it is living in hell. So help the person to understand that this is nothing to be worried, there is nothing to be afraid. It is a created fear. Every child is born fearless. He can play with the snakes with no fear. He has no idea of fear or death or anything. Meditation brings the person back to his childhood. He is reborn.
25. All insecurity is a shadow of death. If you look deeply, then every insecure feeling is rooted in the fear of death. But I am saying to you that there is no death; hence there cannot be any insecurity. You are immortal beings, amritasya putrah. That’s what the seers in the ancient East have said: You are the sons of immortality.
26. If you die consciously you will not enter into another womb, you will not be born again, because birth is nothing but the beginning of death. You will not be reborn; that means you will never die again. You have reached to your original being. You have become a buddha.
27. It is because of the fear of death that people avoid meditation — but it is only meditation that can take you beyond the fear of death, that is the irony of the case. You are afraid of meditation because of death, but you don’t know it is only meditation that can make you fearless of death — because to the meditator there is no death, but only life, and life divine and life eternal.
28. Help people to know death. Their fear is because of ignorance. They are afraid of death because death is the greatest unknown. There is no way to know death unless you die. Help people to know death through meditation, because that is a way of dying and still remaining alive.
29. If you have lived totally, death is not the end. Death is only an episode, a small episode in an eternal life. You have died many times, but because you have never lived totally, you became unconscious at the moment of death; the fear brought you into a coma. That’s why you don’t remember your past lives, because the coma stands as a barrier for the past lives and their remembrance. And because you don’t know your past lives, you cannot understand that there is going to be life after death, that life is eternal. Birth and death are mere episodes; thousands of times you have been into birth, into death. But when you are not allowed to live totally, when everywhere there is interference from religion.
30. As death starts coming closer and closer, a great fear arises: so many desires are there which are unfulfilled. You become afraid: if death comes and takes you away…. It is bound to happen sooner or later, and the possibility is of sooner than later. All those desires start taking possession of you. “Fulfill us,” they say. “Time is short. Do something.” You start going crazy. You continuously become obsessed.
31. It is an experience, either in love, which people have learned to avoid — so many go on hankering for love, and go on destroying all possibilities for it because of the fear of nothingness — or, in deep meditation when thought stops. You simply see there is nothing inside, but that nothing has a presence; it is not simply absence of thought, it is presence of something unknown, mysterious, something very huge. Or, you can experience it in death, if you are alert. People ordinarily die in unconsciousness. Because of the fear of nothingness they become unconscious. If you die consciously…. And you can die consciously only if you accept the phenomenon of death, and for that one has to learn for the whole life, prepare. One has to love to be ready to die, and one has to meditate to be ready to die. Only a man who has loved and meditated will be able to die consciously. And once you die consciously then there is no need for you to come back, because you have learned the lesson of life. Then you disappear into the whole; that is nirvana.
32. Meditation prepares you for the other half; it helps you to know death without dying. And once you have known death without dying, the fear of death will disappear forever. Even when death comes, you will be silently watching it, knowing absolutely that it cannot even make a small scratch on your being. It is going to take away your body, your mind, but not you.
33. Meditators come across a point: when the mind really completely ceases, breathing also ceases. And then great fear arises — don’t be afraid. Many meditators have reported to me, “We became very much afraid, very much frightened, because suddenly we became aware that the breathing has stopped.” Naturally, one thinks that when breathing stops death is close by. It is only a question of moments — you are dying. Breathing stops in death; breathing also stops in deep meditation. Hence deep meditation and death have one thing similar: in both the breathing stops. Therefore, if a man knows meditation he has also known death. That’s why the meditator becomes free of the fear of death: he knows breathing can stop and still he is.
34. When one penetrates deeply into meditation, fear grips you. Sometimes one encounters death, one feels that now one is going to die. One returns back, hurries back to the surface. That is bound to happen. Before you are reborn, you will have to pass through a death. But don’t be afraid. If a moment comes in your meditation when you feel that now this is the last moment and you will not be able to come back again to the world, to the body, feel thankful, feel a deep gratitude, and welcome the moment. It is a rare moment that comes only when your meditation has gone very deep. It is a good sign; welcome it. Don’t be afraid of it because if you are afraid you can miss it; and once missed it may take a very long time to get that rare moment again. Sometimes even lives may pass before one comes to that rare moment again. Once the fear takes hold of you, you become deeply, unconsciously afraid, and you never come back to the point where death is encountered again. Remember this. Many have missed many rare moments. Know well that death is going to be there. Not the death of you, but the death of the ego. But because you are identified with the ego you feel that “I am going to die.” You are not going to die at all! You are immortal; you are deathless. There is no possibility; death is the only impossibility. You cannot die, so don’t be afraid.
35. Buddha-nature knows no death, no birth — it knows only eternity. No beginning, no end. No boundary. It becomes oceanic… The whole universe becomes its home. For the first time there is not even a fence between you and the universe. You are the universe. This is the meaning of finding the buddha.