Yoga The Alpha and the Omega, Vol 7 Discourses on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Chapter #4, Be a seed Question 5

Question 5

YOU TOLD ME TO BE MYSELF.

I DON'T UNDERSTAND.

HOW CAN I BE MYSELF IF I DON'T KNOW MYSELF?

Whether you know or not, you cannot be other than yourself. To be yourself, knowledge is not needed. A rosebush is a rosebush. Not that the rosebush knows that it is a rosebush. A rock is a rock. Not that the rock knows that it is a rock. Knowledge is not needed. In fact it is because of knowledge that you are missing to be yourself.

You ask "You told me to be myself. I don't understand. How can I be myself if I don t know myself?' Knowledge is creating the problem. Look at the rosebush. She is not confused. Every day it goes on being a rosebush. Not even for a single day does it become confused. It does not start some morning growing marigolds; it goes on being a rosebush. It is not confused at all.

Knowledge is not needed for being. In fact you are missing your being because of knowledge. Unnecessarily, knowledge creates a problem.

I was reading about a certain man named Dudley

To celebrate Uncle Dudley's seventy-fifth birthday, an aviation enthusiast offered to take him for a plane ride over the little West Virginia town where he had spent all his life. Uncle Dudley accepted the offer.

Back on the ground, after circling over the town twenty minutes, his friend asked. "Were you scared, Uncle Dudley?"

"No," was the hesitant answer, "but I never did put my full weight down."

In an airplane, whether you put your full weight down or not, the weight is carried by the airplane.

Whether you know yourself or not is not the point. Knowledge is disturbing you. Just think if there was a rock also on that airplane with Uncle Dudley, the rock would have put the whole weight down. And do you think Uncle Dudley can do something, can help in some way? Is there any possibility that he will be able not to put his whole weight on the airplane? He is also putting the whole weight, but he is unnecessarily worried. He could have rested, he could have relaxed just like the rock, but the rock has no knowledge and Uncle Dudley has knowledge.

The whole problem of humanity is that humanity knows, and because of knowing, the being is unnecessarily forgotten.

Meditation is how to drop knowledge. Meditation means how to become ignorant again. Meditation means how to become a child again, a rosebush, a rock. Meditation means how just to be and not to think.

When I say to you to be yourself, I mean meditate. Don't try to be anybody else. You cannot be! You can try, and you can deceive yourself and you can promise yourself and you can hope that someday you will become somebody else, but you cannot become. These are only illusions that you can go on having. These are dreams. They are not going to become realities ever. You will remain yourself whatsoever you do.

Why not relax? Uncle Dudley, put your full weight on the airplane. Relax.

In relaxation, suddenly you will start enjoying your being, and the effort to be somebody else will stop. That is your worry how to be somebody else, how to be like somebody else, how to become like a Buddha, how to become like Patanjali. You can only be yourself. Accept it, rejoice in it, delight in it. Relax.

Zen Masters say to their disciples, "Beware of Buddha. If you meet him on the way, kill him immediately." What do they mean? They mean there is a human tendency to become imitators. In the English language, there is a book, IMITATION OF CHRIST. Never before and never after was such an ugly title given to any book. Imitation? But, in a way, that title is very symbolic. It shows the whole mind of humanity. People are trying to imitate, to become somebody else.

Nobody can become a Christ, and in fact there is no need -- God will be bored if you become Christ. He wants somebody new, something original. He wants you, and he wants you to be just yourself.

Chapter-4

THE YOGA SUTRAS OF PATANJALI

Be a seed

Fifth Question