Yoga a New Direction - Yoga: The Science of the Soul (Commentaries on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali)

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Step by step, Osho explains what he calls “the central teaching of Patanjali”- a path of eight steps that leads finally to transformation. There are no rules to be following; this isn’t a new system of beliefs or a new religion. Patanjali’s approach is all-encompassing, covering the exercise and breathing technique that are now an established part of contemporary wellness and holistic living techniques, but also the science of yoga. Osho describes the significance and meaning of each of patanjali’s steps of self-exploration, and shows how contemporary man can awaken his life energy.

Yoga is not a religion, remember that. Yoga is not Hindu, it is not Mohammedan. Yoga is a pure science just like mathematics, physics, or chemistry. Physics is not Christian, physics is not Buddhist. Christians may have discovered the laws of physics, but physics is not Christian. It is just accidental that Christians have come to discover the laws of physics. Physics remains just a science. Yoga is a science; it is just accidental that Hindus discovered it. It is not Hindu. It is pure mathematics of the inner being. A Mohanmmedan can be a yogi, a Christian can be a yogi, a jaina, a Buddhist can be a yogi.

Yoga is pure science. And patanjali is the greatest name in the world of yoga. 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 of the state of science. He made religion a science; a religion of pure laws, no belief is needed.

So-called religions need beliefs. There is no other difference between one religion and another except the difference of beliefs. A mohanmmedan has certain beliefs, a Hindu certain other, a Christian certain other. The difference is of beliefs. Yoga has nothing as far as belief is concerned; yoga doesn’t say to believe in anything. Yoga says to experience. Just as science says to experiment, yoga says to 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 that God exists with a fanatic attitude and you can say quite the reverse that God exists not, with the same fanaticism. Atheists, theists, are all believers, and belief is not the realm of science. Science means to experience something, that which is; no belief is needed.

The second thing to remember is that yoga is existential, experiential, and experimental; not belief is required, no faith is needed. Only the courage to experience is needed. Only the courage to experience is needed, and that is what is lacking.