...why some people are so attached to this "all experience is pain" thang. They've never had Unity experiences.
What they consider the "highest" experiences they've ever had involve either transcendence or Maharishi's CC. In other words, experiences that are totally based on duality -- on the one hand infinite, eternal transcendence, and on the other ever-changing relative experience. Nothing wrong with this, as far as it goes, but IMO once you've had a taste of what MMY described as Unity you can't really "go back" from that, even if the experience fades. During such an experience, *there is no difference* between eternal and ephemeral, absolute and relative. It's all absolute. Believing that there is a *difference* between absolute and relative is the whole issue, IMO. Many of Patanjali's statements indicate to me that he never got past that issue. Many of the people clinging so desperately to his words as if they were Truth That Cannot Be Challenged strike me as coming from the same place. Just a theory...
