“Yoga is not metaphysical. It does not bother about the distant questions, faraway questions about past lives, future lives, heaven and hell, God, and things of that sort. Yoga is concerned with questions close to home. The closer the question, the greater is the possibility to solve it. If you can ask the question closest to you, there is every possibility that just by asking, it will be solved. And once you solve the closest question, you have taken the first step. Then the pilgrimage begins. Then by and by you start solving those which are distant… But the whole Yoga inquiry is to bring you close to home.

      “So if you ask Patanjali about God, he won’t answer. In fact he will think you a little foolish. Yoga thinks all metaphysicians foolish; they are wasting their time on problems which cannot be solved because they are so far away. Better start from the point where you are. You can only start from where you are. Each real journey can begin only from where you are. Don’t ask intellectual, metaphysical questions of the beyond, ask the questions of the within.

      “This is the first thing to be understood about Yoga: it is a science. It is very pragmatic, empirical. It fulfills all the criteria of science. In fact what you call science is a little far away because science concentrates on objects. And Yoga says unless you understand the subject closest to you, which is your nature, how can you understand the object? If you don’t know yourself, all else that you know is bound to be erroneous because the base is missing. You are on faulty ground. If you are not enlightened within, then whatsoever light you carry without is not going to help you. And if you carry the light within, then there is no fear. Let there be darkness outside, your light will be enough for you. It will enlighten your path.” Osho