Is there an interrelation between knowledge and devotion?

Beloved Osho, shankaracharya teaches metaphysics and at the same time he sings the songs of govinda. Is there any interrelation between knowledge and bhakti, devotion?

You can fly in this sky if you make them both your wings. No bird can fly with one wing, no man can walk with one foot, nor can a boat be rowed with one oar; both the oars are needed. There is no contradiction, and those who have told you that there is a contradiction are wrong. They made this error because they did not know this great harmony. They were either mind-dominated people who possessed only dry thoughts and logic and never experienced the dance of the heart, or they were heart-dominated people who could dance but did not have any understanding. It will be a fortunate moment when you can dance with understanding. That moment will be fortunate when you can love with understanding. And never refuse anything which existence has given you, because if you do so you will become disabled to that degree. You are…

Osho, Sri Shankaracharya teaches the wisdom of the ultimate (tattva-jnana) and also sings Govinda’s bhajans. Is there an interrelationship between knowledge and bhajan, between knowledge and devotion?

Knowledge is negating; devotion is affirmative. Knowledge is like preparing the soil—removing weeds, adding manure; devotion is like sowing the seed. Knowledge by itself is incomplete. It clears the field, but it does not implant the seeds. It is necessary, not sufficient. For knowledge belongs to the intellect; devotion belongs to the heart. On the path to the divine, all the obstacles can be cut away by knowledge; but the steps are climbed by devotion. So knowledge is negating; it is very effective in breaking the futile, not in giving birth to the meaningful. Shankara speaks of knowledge so that the layers upon layers of ignorance within you are cut away. And once the ground of the mind is clear—no useless rubbish, no trash—then the seeds of devotion can be sown; then “bhaj Govindam” becomes possible. There is no opposition between the two; devotion is the culmination of knowledge, and…

Osho, just as the sage Shandilya calls knowledge (jnana) and yoga the helpers of devotion (bhakti), do the exponents of knowledge and yoga likewise regard devotion as their helper, or not?

The devotee’s vision is more generous than the vision of the knower and the yogi. Because the source of devotion is the heart. The heart is vast; it can include even what is opposed to it. The heart does not worry about coherence; the heart cares about music. Jnana and yoga are not the ways of the heart; they are the ways of the intellect. The intellect is very narrow. The intellect chooses. Then the intellect worries about coherence, not about music—there must be logical consistency. So in Mahavira’s utterances there can be no room for devotion. His is the path of pure thought: samyak jnana, right knowledge. There only what exactly suits knowledge will be accepted. Knowledge selects, sifts; it is orderly; it has a blueprint. The devotee is not so narrow. He does not get flustered by a little inconsistency. The logician, the philosopher, is consistent—but the poet…

Osho, to cross the ocean of becoming and dissolve into the Supreme Self, which should one rely on—insensate devotion, foolish devotion, or blind devotion?

So drop this worry—whether insensate devotion, foolish devotion, blind devotion, or deranged devotion. Drop it; devotion is enough. And in devotion all these labels will take care of themselves. Become a devotee once, and “blind” you will automatically be—meaning: the whole world will call you blind. You will not become blind; rather, you will gain eyes. You will begin to see what ordinary eyes cannot see. The invisible will become visible; the imperceptible will come within perception. That which no one has ever touched will be felt as touch. But the world will call you blind. The world will not be able to accept it—because the world is blind, and the blind call you blind. H. G. Wells has a story: somewhere in Mexico there is a valley where children go blind within three months of birth. The story is based on fact. The climate, the food—something there ruins the…

Osho, why does devotion seem more traditional and orthodox than knowledge, meditation, and yoga?

The devotee is natural. As morning comes, the sun rises, light spreads, the stars vanish; evening comes, the sun sets, light fades, the stars appear—so it has always been. Such is devotion—eternal, sanatan. If there is any eternal religion in the world, it is devotion. It has nothing to do with the Hindus’ “Sanatan Dharma.” The only sanatan dharma is bhakti. Meditation is rebellious; devotion is eternal. Meditation continually discovers new methods, because meditation has methods; where there are methods, new ones can be invented. Devotion has no method—devotion is methodless. Where there is no method, from where will you bring a new one? Devotion is a feeling, not a technique. Have you ever thought how traditional love is? Knowledge is not traditional; knowledge grows, expands. There were many things Buddha did not know that Einstein knows. Many things Mahavira did not know that Eddington knows. In knowledge man adds…