There is a dragon. What form does the dragon come in? Oh, any form you like. Any form you like. The doctor tells you, “You’ve got two weeks to live; you have incurable cancer.” “Grrrr!” Here it is! Comes out of its den breathing fire, breathing confusion, looking at you, showing the teeth. "I get to eat today.”
Somebody you love—really been close to all your life, and they pass away. Powh! Here it comes. Boss says you’re fired. Kkkch! Here it comes. The dragon approaches, breathing fire. This is the weapon of the dragon—confusion.
So, there you are. And you are going to be the most afraid when that dragon is in front of you. It’s powerful. It’s breathing fire! Confusion is just pouring out. Its teeth! Enough to put fear in anybody. Its size. And all this is making you feel totally inadequate.
And in that moment you want to win, but you know you can’t! And it is precisely in this moment when you need to draw your sword and engage the dragon. Sounds like fun, huh?
And if that dragon smells fear in you, it will breathe even harder and show his teeth even more. And its claws.
So, do you practice with your sword? Is your sword familiar to you? Are you at ease with your sword? Do you have enough confidence in yourself to be able to take on this dragon? Because that’s what you’re going to need. That’s what you’re going to need.
Because that dragon is so huge, there is not enough muscle-power in you to ever be able to defeat it. So, the only way to win is to show the dragon your strength so it just backs down. Because if you think your sword is bigger than its one nail in the claw, that’s only because the dragon is not close enough yet.
But if you can show that strength, show that you are completely willing to fail, without ever accepting failure, this, to that dragon, is the most intimidating thing. Any dragon. When it has understood you’re not going to back down….
There is a dragon, but you don’t have to be afraid of it. Because if you call upon your wisdom, upon your experience of you, that’s one thing that that dragon cannot fight—it knows that. It will get defeated. It will get defeated. It knows—it has never been able to fight that. Ever!
– Prem Rawat
