According to Osho, while the yogic path is ordinarily sequential and organic, rare individuals may reach certain limbs out of order—even up to the seventh (dhyana). But no one attains the eighth, samadhi, without completing all parts. Skipped steps must eventually be returned to and integrated; only a harmonized development of all eight limbs yields total fulfillment.
You might skip ahead in yoga, but you’ll get stuck until you go back and finish every step; the final state needs everything complete.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Yesterday morning you referred to the eight stages of yogic achievement and emphasized that you move from number one to number eight, in that order. Is it not possible, in individual cases, that an individual could reach one or the other states first and then move in his or her own order to achieve all eight of them?
It is possible, but when I say possible I mean only rarely, very rarely. Exceptions are always there with every rule, but when Patanjali talks, he talks about the rule, not about the exception. Exceptions need not be talked about. The greater mass of humanity cannot reach from anywhere in any other way. They will have to follow step by step -- from one to two, from two to three. They move in an organic unity. But there are freaks who can go and jump -- but then they too will have to come back and absorb the left-behind part. Their arrangement can be different, that's possible. You can start with pranayam, but then you will have to come to asan, you will have to come to YAM.... You can start by meditation, but then you will have to move to other parts which are left behind. But all the…
25. The disassociation of the seer and the seen which is brought about by the dispersion of ignorance is the remedy that brings liberation.
26. THE UNWAVERING PRACTICE OF DISCRIMINATION BETWEEN WHAT IS THE REAL AND WHAT IS THE UNREAL BRINGS ABOUT THE DISPERSION OF IGNORANCE. 27. THE HIGHEST STAGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT IS REACHED IN SEVEN STEPS. The whole effort of yoga is like that. Many methods have to be used to remain alert: and because of this many things have gone wrong. For example, fasting: fasting is a method to remain alert -- it has nothing to do with the body -- because whenever you are fasting you cannot fall asleep easily. To fall asleep, the body needs food. When you have overeaten you fall asleep immediately. If you have overeaten, immediately you feel that now you cannot move. you cannot do anything. The consciousness is losing itself. The whole energy of the body moves into the stomach, it leaves the head where it remains conscious, because the food has to be digested,…
On the attainment of the fifth state, the mind of the seeker ceases, like clouds in an autumn sky, and only truth remains.
IN THIS STATE, WORLDLY DESIRES DO NOT ARISE AT ALL. DURING THIS STATE ALL THOUGHTS OF DIVISION IN THE SEEKER ARE STILLED AND HE REMAINS ROOTED IN NONDUALITY. ON THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE FEELING OF DIVISION, THE FIFTH STAGE, KNOWN AS THE SUSHUPTAPAD -- SLEEPING -- DRAWS THE ENLIGHTENED SEEKER INTO ITS NATURE. HE IS PERPETUALLY INTROVERTED AND LOOKS TIRED AND SLEEPY, EVEN THOUGH EXTERNALLY HE CONTINUES HIS EVERYDAY ACTIVITIES. ON THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THIS STAGE, THE DESIRE-FREE SEEKER ENTERS THE SIXTH ONE. BOTH TRUTH AND UNTRUTH, BOTH EGOISM AND EGOLESSNESS AND ALL SORTS OF MENTATION CEASE TO EXIST IN THIS STATE, AND ROOTED IN PURE NONDUALITY, THE SEEKER IS FREE FROM FEAR. AS THE ENTANGLEMENTS OF HIS HEART DISSOLVE, SO ALL HIS DOUBTS DROP. THIS IS THE MOMENT WHEN HE IS COMPLETELY EMPTIED OF ALL THOUGHT. WITHOUT ATTAINING NIRVANA, HE IS IN A NIRVANA-LIKE STATE AND BECOMES FREE WHILE…
6. Samyama is to be employed in stages.
7. THESE THREE -- DHARANA, DHYAN, AND SAMADHI -- ARE INTERNAL COMPARED TO THE FIVE THAT PRECEDE THEM. 8. BUT THE THREE ARE EXTERNAL COMPARED TO SEEDLESS SAMADHI. 9. NIRODH PARINAM IS THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE MIND IN WHICH THE MIND BECOMES PERMEATED BY THE CONDITION OF NIRODH, WHICH INTERVENES MOMENTARILY BETWEEN AN IMPRESSION THAT IS DISAPPEARING AND THE IMPRESSION THAT IS TAKING ITS PLACE. 10. THIS FLOW BECOMES PEACEFUL WITH REPEATED IMPRESSIONS. But why does man become so obsessed with an outer discipline? There must be a cause to it, a reason for it. The reason is there. The reason is because to force anything from the outside seems easier, cheap, at no cost. It is as if you are not beautiful, but you can purchase a beautiful mask from the market and you can put it on your face. Cheap, not costly, and you can deceive others a…
Osho, in yesterday’s talk you said that a seeker should first be concerned with becoming a vessel, and should not go about begging from place to place. But the very meaning of a seeker is that he has obstacles in practice. He doesn’t know how to become a vessel, how to prepare. So if he does not go asking, what should he do? How difficult it is to meet the right guide!
But searching and begging are two different things. In fact, the one who does not want to search is the one who begs. Searching and begging are not the same; they are opposites. He who wants to avoid searching begs; a seeker never begs. And the processes of searching and begging are entirely different. In begging you have to keep your attention on the other—the one who will give. In searching you have to keep your attention on yourself—the one who is to receive. It is true that there are obstacles on the path of the seeker. But if we understand rightly, saying there are obstacles on the path of the seeker means the obstacles are within the seeker; the path too is within. And to understand one’s obstacles is not very difficult. So we will have to speak a little more extensively on what the obstacles are and how…