Patanjali is the greatest scientist of the inner; his approach is that of a scientific mind. He is not a poet. In that way he is very rare because those who enter the inner world are almost always poets; those who enter the outer world are almost always scientists.

He is a rare flower with a scientific mind, but his journey is inner. That’s why he became the first and the last word: he is the alpha and the omega. In five thousand years nobody could improve upon him. And it seems he cannot be improved upon. He will remain the last word – because the very combination is impossible. It is almost impossible to have a scientific attitude and to enter the inner. He talks like a mathematician, a logician. He talks like Aristotle, and he is a Heraclitus.

Try to understand his every word. It will be difficult because his terms will be those of logic and reasoning, but his indication is toward love, ecstasy, godliness. His terminology is that of the man who works in a scientific lab, but his lab is one of the inner being. So don’t be misguided by his terminology, just retain the feeling that he is a mathematician of the ultimate poetry. He is a paradox, but he never uses paradoxical language – he cannot. He retains a very firm logical background. He analyzes, dissects, but his aim is synthesis. He analyzes only to synthesize.

So always remember the goal: to reach to the ultimate through a scientific approach. And don’t be misguided by the path. That’s why Patanjali has impressed the Western mind so much. He has always been an influence. He has been an influence wherever his name has been heard because you can understand him easily – but to understand him is not enough. To understand him is as easy as to understand an Einstein. He talks to the intellect, but you have to remember this: his aim, his target, is the heart.