The Heart of Yoga. Osho
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can you compare the moon with the sun? There is no possibility because they are different dimensions. Heraclitus is a wildflower; Patanjali is in a cultivated garden. Patanjali will be nearer your intellect, Heraclitus nearer your heart. But as you go deeper, the differences are lost. When you start flowering, a new understanding dawns upon you – the understanding that flowers differ in their color, smell, shape, form and name.
But in flowering they don’t differ. The flowering, the phenomenon that they have flowered, is the same. Heraclitus is, of course, different; he has to be. Every individual is unique. Patanjali is also different. You cannot put them into one category. No pigeonholes exist where you can force them or categorize them. But if you also flower, you will come to understand that flowering is the same whether the flower is a lotus or a rose. It makes no difference. The innermost phenomenon of energy coming to a celebration is the same.
Patanjali is a scientific thinker. He is a grammarian, a linguist. Heraclitus is a wild poet. They talk differently, they have different mind patterns. Heraclitus does not bother about grammar, language or form. When you say that listening to Patanjali you feel that Heraclitus, Basho, and Zen appear childish, like kindergarten teachings, you are not saying anything about Patanjali or Heraclitus, you are saying something about yourself. You are saying that you are a mind oriented person.
You can understand Patanjali; Heraclitus simply eludes you. Patanjali is more solid, you can have a grip on him. Heraclitus is a cloud, you cannot have any grip on him. You can make head and tail out of Patanjali, he seems rational. What will you do with a Heraclitus, with a Basho? No, they are simply so irrational. Thinking about them, your mind becomes absolutely impotent. When you say such things and make comparisons, judgments, you say something about yourself – who you are.
Patanjali can be understood, there is no trouble about it. He is absolutely rational and can be followed; there is no problem there. All his techniques can be done because he gives you “the how,” and “how” is always easy to understand. What to do? How to do it? He gives you the techniques.
Ask Basho or Heraclitus what to do, and they simply say, “There is nothing to be done.” You are at a loss. If something is to be done you can do it, but if nothing is to be done you are at a loss. Still, you go on asking again and again, “What to do? How to do it? How to achieve that which you are talking about?”
They talk about the ultimate without talking about the way that leads to it. Patanjali talks about the way, never about the goal. He is concerned with the means, Heraclitus with the end. The end is mysterious. It is poetry; it is not a mathematical solution. It is a mystery. But the path is a scientific thing. The technique, the know-how appeals to you. But this shows something about you, not about Heraclitus or Patanjali. You are a mind oriented person, a head oriented person. Try to see this. Don’t compare Patanjali and Heraclitus. Simply try to see that it shows something about you. And if it shows something about you, you can do something about it.
Don’t think that you know what Patanjali is and what Heraclitus is. You can’t even understand an ordinary flower in the garden – and they are the ultimate flowering in existence. Unless you flower in the same way, you will not be able to understand. But you can compare, you can judge, and through judgment you will miss the whole point.
So the first rule of understanding is never to judge. Never judge and never compare Buddha, Mahavira, Mohammed, Christ, Krishna. Never compare! They exist in a dimension beyond comparison, and whatever you know about them is really nothing – just fragments. You cannot have the total comprehension. They are so beyond. In fact, you simply see their reflection in the water of your mind.
You have not seen the moon; you have seen the moon in the lake. You have not seen the reality; you have simply seen a mirror reflection, and the reflection depends on the mirror. If the mirror is defective, the reflection is different. Your mind is your mirror.
When you say that Patanjali and his teaching seems very great, you are simply saying that you couldn’t understand Heraclitus at all. If you cannot understand him, that simply shows that he is very, very far beyond you; he is further beyond you than Patanjali is. At least you can understand this much: that Patanjali seems to be difficult. Now follow me closely and if something is difficult, you can tackle it – however difficult, you can tackle it. More hard effort is needed, but that can be done.
Heraclitus is not easy, he is simply impossible. Patanjali is difficult. You can understand the difficult; you can do something. You can bring your will, effort, and your whole energy to it and it can be solved. The difficult can be made easy, and more subtle methods can be found. But what will you do with the impossible? It cannot be made easy, but you can deceive yourself. You can say that there is nothing in it, that it is a kindergarten teaching and you are so grown-up, that it is for children, not for you.
This is a trick of the mind to avoid the impossible because you know that you will not be able to tackle it. So the easiest course is simply to say, “It is not for me, it is below me – a kindergarten teaching.” And you are a grown-up mature person. You need a university, you don’t need a kindergarten. Patanjali suits you. He looks very difficult, but he can be solved. The impossible cannot be solved.
If you want to understand Heraclitus, there is no way except by dropping your mind completely. If you want to understand Patanjali, there is a gradual way. He gives you steps – what to do – but remember, finally, eventually, he will also say to you, “Drop the mind.” What Heraclitus says in the beginning, he will say in the end. But you can be fooled the whole way on the path. In the end he is going to say the same thing, but he will still be understandable because he makes grades; the jump doesn’t look like a jump when you have steps.
This is the situation: Heraclitus just brings you to an abyss and says, “Jump!” You look down, your mind simply cannot comprehend what he is saying. It looks suicidal. There are no steps. You ask, “How?” and he says, “There is no ‘how,’ you simply jump!” What is the “how”? And because there are no steps, “how” cannot be explained. You simply jump! He says, “If you are ready I can push you, but there are no methods.” Is there any method in taking a jump? A jump is sudden; methods exist when a thing, a process is gradual. Finding it impossible, you make an about-turn. To console yourself that you are not such a weakling you say that it is for children – it is not difficult enough. It is not for you.
Patanjali brings you to the same abyss, but he has made steps. He says, “Take one step at a time.” It appeals – you can understand it. The mathematics is simple: take one step, then another. There is no jump. But remember, sooner or later he will bring you to the point from where you have to jump. He has created steps, but they don’t lead to the bottom, just to the middle – and the bottom is so far away that you can exactly say that it is a bottomless abyss.
So the amount of steps you take makes no difference. The abyss remains the same. He will lead you along for ninety-nine steps, and you will be very happy – as if you have covered the abyss and now the bottom has come nearer. No, the bottom remains as far away as before. The ninety-nine steps are just to befool your mind, just to give you a “how,” a technique. At the hundredth step he says, “Jump!” The abyss remains the same, the span the same.
There is no difference, because the abyss is infinite, God is infinite. How can you meet him gradually? But these ninety-nine steps will befool you. Patanjali is more clever. Heraclitus is innocent, he simply says to you, “This is the thing; here is the abyss. Jump!” He does not persuade you, and he does not seduce you, he simply says, “This is the fact. If you want to jump, jump; if you don’t want to jump, go away.” He knows that to make steps is useless because finally one has to take the jump. But I think it will be good for you to follow Patanjali because by and by, he seduces you. At least you can take one step and the second becomes easier, then the third. When you have taken ninety-nine steps, it will be difficult to go back because it will be absolutely against your ego – the whole world will laugh. You have become such a great sage, and you are coming back to the world? You were such a mahayogi – a great yogi – why are you coming back? Now you are caught, and you cannot go back.
Heraclitus is simple, innocent. His teaching is not that of a kindergarten, but he is a child – that’s right –