Love is happy when it is able to give something. The ego is happy when it is able to take something.

Love and ego are as different as the light of the moon and the darkness of the night. The quote encapsulates the essence of their contrast in the realm of giving and receiving.

When Osho says, “Love is happy when it is able to give something,” it is to understand that love is not a commodity, it is a state of being. True love is an overflowing joy that seeks not a space to be filled, but an opportunity to share itself. It is not transactional; it is transformational. It finds its greatest fulfilment not in possession, but in bestowal. For love knows that in the act of giving, it is not diminished but multiplied.

On the different end of the spectrum, the ego thrives on acquisition. The ego is happy when it is able to take something because it is grounded in deficiency and neediness. “The ego is happy,” Osho says, not because it has found joy but because it has appeased its hunger, however temporarily. The ego always wants to prove itself, to be right, to be superior. It yearns for recognition and is always on the lookout for what it can extract from situations and relationships to bolster its sense of self.

But remember the happiness of the ego is fleeting. It is dependent on external circumstances, and as they change, so does the ego’s satisfaction. It is like drinking salt water to quench your thirst. On the other hand, the happiness of love is eternal. It grows by giving and is nourished by sacrifice.

If you wish to transcend the ego and bathe in the pure bliss of love, start by giving – give your time, your attention, your understanding, your compassion. In the very act of giving, you will discover the joy that does not depend on taking, the joy that is your very nature.

And through this understanding, craft your actions and decisions. Let love guide your ambitions and soothe your emotions. In giving, find your purpose and your path. This does not mean you should not receive – but receive with gratitude, not with entitlement, as love does, always knowing that the true gift lies in having had something to give in the first place.

Be well, and let love flow through you as a channel of the divine.