The Ache of Pain
If you look at all the pleasures you get in life, they all come with a ‘tax’ called sorrow.
Every event, however pleasant, causes pain in the end. Greater the joy; greater is the pain. Longing for an event or waiting for a pleasurable event is again pain. Before you want something the feverishness of wanting it is painful. When you have it the fear of losing it is painful. When it is gone, the memory of its joy is painful.
Pain and Love are the two sides of the same coin. Love creates tremendous amount of pain and so does separation. A wish creates tremendous amount of pressure in the mind. Trying to please one creates pain, to know and understand whether they are pleased or not also creates pain. You want to know how the other person’s mind is. But that’s not possible because you still don’t know your own mind.
To do spiritual practices, you need to put effort and that’s painful. Not doing it creates even more pain. If you really look from the eyes of the wise there is nothing in this creation that is devoid of pain. Pain is the tail of everything in this world.
When you realize that everything is pain then what to do? The root cause of pain needs to be eliminated. The pain which has not yet come in life and which has not sprouted should be nipped off right at the beginning. But, how do you do that?
Forgetfulness of yourself as separate from your environment is the main cause of pain. Lack of perception causes pain. There are three things – the self, the seer and the seeing. People keep their life somewhere else; they don’t keep their life within themselves. For some people, their life is in the bank account. If the bank closes, then that person will get a cardiac arrest. Whatever you give more importance to in life that becomes the cause of pain. So when you see the difference, that the seer is separate from its surroundings, it helps in eliminating the pain.
Through meditation, you can experience that you are not the body. But that doesn’t mean that you have to run away from this world. This world is here for your enjoyment. However, while enjoying it don’t forget yourself. The realization that you are separate from yourself is Viveka.
Every aspect in this world is an expression of consciousness. Each thing conveys a message to you, gives you an idea of how great the consciousness is. Everything that is active has manifested out of consciousness. Everything in this world is dynamic; not static. Even the mountain is not static. Every atom is dynamic in nature. They all undergo certain stages of evolution. Everything is governed by this principle.
The entire creation is made up of five elements and ten sense organs – five organs of perception and five organs of action. This entire creation is there to give you pleasure and relief. Whatever gives you pleasure, should also give you relief. Otherwise, the very pleasure becomes pain. Suppose you like the apple pie, but eating too many of them might cause a stomach ache. The same thing, which gives you pleasure, can also make you suffer.
Your body is made up of three gunas – sattva, rajas, tamas and your thoughts and behaviour patterns change accordingly. Tamas creates more dullness, sleep and lethargy, while Rajas creates restlessness, desires and anguish. When the mind is dominated by Sattva, it is joyful, alert and enthusiastic. When these three gunas act in your body according to their nature, all these different qualities dominate.
But when you feel that the self is becoming one with the buddhi or the intellect, it appears as though it is coloured. The world continues to exist with its opposites. For the one, who has awakened in knowledge, there is no more suffering, the world appears completely different. For him, every inch of this creation is filled with bliss or part of the self. But for others, it exists as they see it.
To eliminate the root cause of pain, a definite understanding is essential. Body, mind and this whole world are undergoing changes all the time. The entire universe is in the form of fluidity. The definite knowledge is, ‘I am not the body, I’m the self, I’m the space, I’m the imperishable, untouched, untainted by this world around me. Every particle in this body and the mind is changing”. Only this definite knowledge is the way out of this cycle.
