14. Never Drop the Feeling-Connection🔗

In the last sutra, Patanjali says, 'Till that state is reached, there is clutching and identification with thought patterns.' Now he is telling us, 'Let us start; let us find out how to clean that state, how to remove the identification with your thought patterns.' Now start all the theories, philosophies, different ideas, different techniques.

The fifth sutra:

Let me translate: 'The modifications of your mind are five. They can be the source of anguish or of non-anguish.' He says, 'The mental patterns are five-fold. They result in the alternation of anguish and non-anguish, suffering and peace.' The most difficult thing on the spiritual path is making people trust that they are qualified for enlightenment! Nothing else is so difficult. Making them renounce their wealth, renounce their name and fame, renounce their power and prestige - all these things are not a big job at all. The most difficult thing to make them renounce is their self-doubt, their self-hatred, their self-denial. The most difficult thing is making them understand that they are qualified for the experience, qualified for the Truth.

You are constantly creating struggle and suffering for yourself with your ideas about your past, about your sins, about your karma. So Patanjali says, 'Alright. At least let me try to take care that the feeling-connection with the Master is not dropped. As long as the feeling-connection is there, at least tomorrow he can be lifted up.' It is like this - I throw a rope for you to climb up; if you don't come up, at least I can come down holding onto the rope, waiting for you. Patanjali is doing that job now.

Please understand, the mass is always mediocre. They can't straightaway catch the truth. They need more words, words, words. If the book is very big, they think it is very valuable. When you have a lot of material, your ego feels satisfied and you feel you have achieved something, you got something worthy for your money.

There is a beautiful story about Bernard Shaw. He once wrote a book of a hundred pages. Somebody asked him, 'What happened? Just a hundred pages!' Bernard Shaw replied, 'I didn't have enough time. If I had some more

We don't really want the truth. We don't want a straight solution for our suffering; we want support, we want sympathy. Here Patanjali is trying to give his support. It is like diluting the medicine for kids. I have seen in Indian villages, mothers feeding bitter neem paste to their kids as a medicine. When the kids refuse to take it, they make the paste into a ball and coat it with sugar and feed it to the kids. This is exactly what Patanjali is doing. He is sugar-coating the truth and sharing it, so that people will receive it.

When Patanjali says, 'The five-fold thought patterns result in the alternation of suffering and joy', you immediately accept it. 'Yes, he knows about my suffering. I can relate with him.' Please understand, we don't really want the best things. We want things with which we can relate, that's all. To have the best things, you may have to move out of your comfort zone. But you don't want that. So you choose only those things which you can relate to, which you are mentally comfortable with.

time, I would have written only forty pages!' Please understand the paradox - if I had some more time, I would have reduced it more, refined it more. But we always want more words, more theories, more answers.

Let me tell you an honest truth: All answers only divert you from the question, including the answers I give - because there is no question that can be answered.

For example, you ask, 'What is worry?' I say, 'The continuous inner chatter which goes on inside you is worry.' What have you understood?? I can say I have not understood anything! But when you are given more and more words, you are too tired to think further, so you relax!

If you want only the best things, the moment you see the Master, you will naturally drop everything and follow him. On one side, you have the desire to follow him, but then you say, 'No, no, no. Let me have the things with which I can relate, which I can fight or I can resist or I can love or I can play. Master is too big a thing. I know he is the ultimate thing to have in life, but I cannot play with it. I cannot relate with it. I cannot fight with it. I cannot have it. When I can never possess it, why go after it?'

Actually, any answer will only create ten further questions. Any answer will create more questions in you. That is the nature of words. But when familiar words are uttered to explain unfamiliar words, we understand that as an answer, that's all! You act as if you are asking, I act as if I am answering; both are games. When you realize this, you don't need this game. You start sitting in silence, just in the Presence.

Today, contemplate on this, even if it is a hard truth!

'I don't really want a straight solution for my suffering. What I really want is support and sympathy.'

Sutra 6