Yoga Sutra 3.1 Agama

The third is most beautiful. And nowhere else it has been made a source of right knowledge – words of the awakened ones, AGAMA. There has been a long controversy about this third source. Patanjali says you can know directly, then it is okay. You can infer rightly, then too you are on the right path and you will reach the source.

But there are few things you cannot infer even, and you have not known. But you are not the first on this earth, you are not the first seeker. Millions have been seeking for millions of ages – and not only on this planet, but on other planets also. The search is eternal and many have arrived. They have reached the goal, they have entered the temple. Their words are also a source of right knowledge.

Agama means the words of those who have known. Buddha says something or Jesus says something… We don’t know what he is saying. We have not experienced that, so we have no way of judging it. We don’t know what or how to infer rightly through his words. And the words are contradictory, so you can infer anything you like.

Few are there who think Jesus was neurotic. Western psychiatrists have been trying to prove that he was neurotic, he was a maniac. These claims that, “I am the son of God, and the only son,” – he was mad, an egomaniac, neurotic. It can be proved that he was neurotic because there are many neurotic people who claim such things. You can find out. In madhouses there are many people.

In Baghdad it happened once. Caliph Omar was the king, and one man declared on the streets of Baghdad that “I am the Paigamber, I am the messenger, I am the prophet. And now Mohammed is cancelled because I am here. I am the last word, the last message from the divine. And now there is no need for Mohammed, he is just out of date. He was the messenger up to now, but now I have come. You can forget Mohammed.”

It was not a Hindu country. Hindus can tolerate everything; no one has tolerated it like Hindus. They can tolerate everything because they say, “Unless we know exactly, we cannot say yes, we cannot say no. He may be the messenger, who knows?”

But Mohammedans are different, very dogmatic. They cannot tolerate it. So Caliph Omar, having caught the new prophet, threw him in the jail and told him that, “Twenty-four hours are being given to you. Reconsider. If you say you are not the prophet, Mohammed is the prophet, then you will be released. If you insist on your madness, then after twenty-four hours I will come to the jail and you will be killed.”

The man laughed. He said, “Look! This is written in the scriptures – that prophets will always be treated like this, as you are treating me.” He was logical. Mohammed himself was treated like that, so this is nothing new. The man said to Omar, “This is nothing new. This is how things are naturally going to be. And I am not in any position to reconsider. I am not the authority, I am just the messenger. Only God can change. In twenty-four hours you can come, you will find me the same. Only he can change who has appointed me.”

While this talk was going on, another madman, who was chained to a pillar, started laughing. So Omar asked, “Why are you laughing?” He said, “This man is absolutely wrong. I never appointed him! I cannot allow this. After Mohammed I have not sent any messenger.” In every madhouse these people are there, and Jesus can be proved that he is a similar case.

And the words are so contradictory and illogical. And every person who has known is compelled to speak contradictorily, paradoxically, because the truth is such it can be expressed only through paradoxes. Their statements are not clear; they are mysterious. And you can conclude anything out of them if you infer. You infer. Your mind is there; the inference is going to be your inference.

So Patanjali says, a third source. You don’t know. If you know directly, then there is no question, then there is no need for any other source. If you have direct cognition, then there is no need for inference or for the words of the enlightened ones, you yourself have become enlightened. Then you can drop the two other sources. But if this has not happened, then inference, but inference will be yours. If you are mad, then your inference will be mad. Then the third source is worth trying – the words of the enlightened ones.

You cannot prove them, you cannot disprove them. You can only have a trust, and that trust is hypothetical; it is very scientific. In science also you cannot proceed without a hypothesis. But hypothesis is not belief. It is just a working arrangement. A hypothesis is just a direction; you will have to experiment. And if the experiment proves right, then the hypothesis becomes a theory. If the experiment goes wrong, then the hypothesis is discarded. The words of the enlightened ones are to be taken on trust, as a hypothesis. Then work them out in your life. If they prove true, then the hypothesis has become a faith; if they prove false, then the hypothesis has to be discarded.

You go to a Buddha. He will say, “Wait! Be patient, meditate, and for two years don’t ask any question.” This you have to take on trust; there is no other way.

You can think, “This man may be just deceiving me. Then my two years of life are wasted. If after two years it is proved that this man was just hocus-pocus, just a deceiver, or self-deceived – in an illusion that he has become enlightened – then my two years are wasted.” But there is no other way. You have to take the risk. And if without trusting Buddha you remain there, these two years will be useless – because unless you trust you cannot work. And the work is so intense that if you have trust only can you move wholly into it, totally into it. If you don’t have trust, then you go on withholding something. And that withholding will not allow you to experience what Buddha is indicating

Risk is there, but life itself is risk. For higher life, higher risks will be there. You move on a dangerous path. But remember, there is only one error in life, and that is not moving at all; that is just afraid, sitting, just afraid if you move something may go wrong, so it is better to wait and sit. This is the only error. You will not be in danger, but no growth will be possible.

Patanjali says there are things which you do not know, there are things which your logic cannot infer. You have to take on trust. Because of this third source, the guru, the Master, becomes a necessity, someone who knows. And you have to take the risk, and I say it is a risk, because there is no guarantee. The whole thing may prove just a wastage, but it is better to take the risk, because even if it is proved a wastage, you have learned much. Now no other person will be able to deceive you so easily. At least you have learned this much.

And if you move with trust, if you move, totally follow a Buddha like a shadow, things may start happening, because they have happened to the person: to this Gautam Buddha, to Jesus, to Mahavira. They have happened, and they know the path; they have traveled. If you argue with them, you will be the loser. They cannot be the losers. They will simply leave you aside.

In this century this has happened with Gurdjieff. So many people were attracted towards him, but he would create such a situation for the new disciples that unless they can trust totally, they will have to leave immediately – unless they can trust even in absurdities. And those absurdities were planned. Gurdjieff will go on lying. In the morning he will say something, in the afternoon something else. And you are not to ask! He will shatter your logical mind completely.

In the morning he will say, “Dig this ditch. And this is a must! By the evening this must be complete.” And the whole day you have been digging it. You have exerted, you are tired, you will be perspiring, you have not taken food, and by evening he comes and he says, “Throw the mud back in the ditch! And before you go to bed it has to be completed.”

Now even an ordinary mind will say, What do you mean? The whole day I have wasted. And I was thinking it was something very necessary, by the evening it has to be completed, and now you say, “Throw the mud back!” If you ask such a thing, Gurdjieff will say, “You simply leave! You go away! I am not for you; you are not for me.”

The ditch or the digging is not the thing. What he is trying is whether you can trust him even when he is absurd. And once he knows that you can trust him and you can move with him wherever he leads, only then real things will follow. Then the test is over; you have been examined and found authentic – a real seeker who can work and who can trust. And then real things can happen to you, never before.

Patanjali is a Master, and this third source he knows very well through his own experience with thousands and thousands of disciples. He must have worked with many, many disciples and seekers, only then it is possible to write such a treatise as YOGA SUTRAS. It is not by a thinker. It is by one who has experimented with many types of minds and who has penetrated with many many layers of minds, every type of person who has worked. This he makes the third source: the words of the awakened ones.