Yoga is pure science

[Guest guest]

Patanjali is the greatest name as far as the world of Yoga is concerned. This

man is rare -- there is no other name comparable to Patanjali. For the first

time in the history of humanity this man brought religion to the status of a

science. He made religion a science: pure laws, no belief is needed.

So-called religions need beliefs. There is no other difference between one

religion and another; the difference is only of beliefs. A Mohammedan has

certain beliefs, a Hindu certain others, a Christian certain others. The

difference is of beliefs. Yoga has nothing as far as belief is concerned; Yoga

doesn't say to believe in anything. Yoga says "Experience." Just as science says

"Experiment," Yoga says "Experience." Experiment and experience are both the

same; their directions are different. Experiment means there is something you

can do outside; experience means there is something you can do inside.

Experience is an inner experiment.

 

Science says, "Don't believe, doubt as much as you can," but also, "Don't

disbelieve" -- because disbelief is again a sort of belief. You can believe in

God, you can believe in the concept of no-God. You can say, "God is" with a

fanatic attitude; you can say quite the reverse, that "God is not," with the

same fanaticism. Atheists, theists, are all believers, and belief is not the

realm for science. Science means to experience something, that which is; no

belief is needed.

 

So the second thing to remember is that Yoga is existential, experiential,

experimental. No belief is required, no faith is needed -- only courage to

experience -- and that's what is lacking. You can believe easily because in

belief you are not going to be transformed. Belief is something added to you,

something superficial. Your being is not changed, you are not passing through

some mutation. You may be a Hindu -- you can become a Christian the next day.

You simply change, you change the Gita for a Bible. You can change it for a

Koran, but the man who was holding the Gita and is now holding the Bible remains

the same. He has changed his beliefs.

 

Beliefs are like clothes. Nothing substantial is transformed, you remain the

same. Dissect a Hindu, dissect a Mohammedan -- inside they are the same. The

Hindu goes to a temple, the Mohammedan hates the temple. The Mohammedan goes to

the mosque and the Hindu hates the mosque but inside they are the same human

beings.

 

Belief is easy because you are not really required to do anything, just a

superficial dressing, a decoration, something which you can put aside any moment

you like. Yoga is not belief; that's why it is difficult, arduous -- and

sometimes it seems impossible. It is an existential approach. You will come to

the truth not through belief but through your own experience, through your own

realization. That means you will have to be totally changed -- your viewpoints,

your way of life, your mind; your psyche as it is has to be shattered

completely. Something new has to be created. Only with that new will you come in

contact with the reality.

 

So Yoga is both a death and a new life. As you are you will have to die, and

unless you die the new cannot be born. The new is hidden in you. You are just a

seed for it and the seed must fall down, be absorbed by the earth. The seed must

die, only then will the new arise out of you. Your death will become your new

life. Yoga is both a death and a new birth. Unless you are ready to die you

cannot be reborn. So it is not a question of changing beliefs.

 

Osho: The Path of Yoga

 

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