YOU’RE NOT ALONE.

Everyone has problems in their life. Some have big while some have small. Rich or Poor, White or Black, Short or Tall, Young or Old, Man or Woman, everyone has problems.

Everyone who has taken birth in this world has to suffer. We cannot say that someone is not suffering.

We don’t want to suffer but did we ever try to understand why we suffer?

Arjuna, in the Mahabharat was fearful of losing his grandfather Bhishma and teacher Drona as he was so much attached to them and he felt that it would be wrong to kill them just to get his kingdom back. This caused him to suffer and he was not able to fight the battle even though he was on the right side and both, Bhishma and Drona was on the evil’s side.

Now, here comes the real deal.

#Why do we Suffer?

We do not suffer because we have problems in our life but we suffer because we don't want to have those problems.


“Suffering is the result of non-acceptance of problems that we have in our life.” 


It is because of:-

1. Mistaken identity

According to the internet: The definition of identity is who you are, how you think about yourself, how you are viewed by the world and the characteristics that define you.

An example of identity is a person's name or the traditional characteristics of an Indian.

Did we ever try to understand who we really are?

We think of ourselves as we are the body but who we really are is the question we should have.


When we say that he/she left us, who really left us? The body is still there but it is not moving or not performing the activities which are performed when it was alive, How?

Intuitive understanding: -

We say This is My Hand, My Leg, My Body, My Head, but who is this “I” who is telling that this is my hand, my leg, my head, etc.?

It is the SOUL or ATMA.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Shri Krishna says:

वासांसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय

नवानि गृह्णाति नरोऽपराणि ।

तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णा-

न्यन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही ॥2.22॥


Translation: As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones. (BG 2.22)

 

Here we can see that Soul is the one who accepts new bodies and gives up the old ones. It’s very clear from this verse that the Soul is the living entity and not the body.

 

In another verse Shri Krishna says:

अन्तवन्त इमे देहा नित्यस्योक्ताः शरीरिणः ।

अनाशिनोऽप्रमेयस्य तस्माद्युध्यस्व भारत ॥2.18॥

 

Translation: The material body of the indestructible, immeasurable and eternal living entity is sure to come to an end; therefore, fight, O descendant of Bhārata. (BG 2.18)

In this part “The material body of the Living Entity” we can see that the living entity is different from the dead or the material body and also that material body is for the living entity to use for performing activities not that the material body is the living entity.

Let’s see what Shri Krishna says about the Soul in the Bhagavad Gita:

अविनाशि तु तद्विद्धि येन सर्वमिदं ततम् ।

विनाशमव्ययस्यास्य न कश्चित्कर्तुमर्हति ॥2.17॥


Translation: That which pervades the entire body you should know to be indestructible. No one is able to destroy that imperishable soul. (BG 2.17)


वेदाविनाशिनं नित्यं य एनमजमव्ययम् ।

कथं स पुरुषः पार्थ कं घातयति हन्ति कम् ॥2.21॥


Translation: O Pārtha, how can a person who knows that the soul is indestructible, eternal, unborn and immutable kill anyone or cause anyone to kill? (BG 2.21)

अच्छेद्योऽयमदाह्योऽयमक्ल‍ेद्योऽशोष्य एव च ।

नित्यः सर्वगतः स्थाणुरचलोऽयं सनातनः ॥2.24॥


Translation: This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, present everywhere, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same. (BG 2.24)

 

Indestructible, imperishable, eternal, unborn, immutable, unbreakable, insoluble, everlasting, present everywhere, unchangeable, immovable are the words used to describe the Soul.

We need to understand the difference between a dead body and a living body.

This body that we have is subject to decay and is already a dead matter formed of chemicals but the living entity or spark is the one that makes it work, but we perceive that we are the material body.

Here’s an example from a Book “The Journey Within” by Radhanath Swami:


Are you your eyes, or are you seeing through your eyes?

Are you your ears, or are you hearing through your ears?

Are you your nose or are you smelling through your nose?

Don’t you touch through your skin, think through your brain, feel through your heart?

Given this, what do you think is your "REAL IDENTITY" ?

2. Attachment

Attachment means a feeling of either attraction or aversion to anything, which you may develop in your interaction with the world.

Your attachments hold you back.


When we are faced with dilemmas, we are moved by the things we believe in or are attached to.

Attachments are at the root of human behaviour.

It is a strong mental connection we develop with things that are part of our sensory experience. What we want to become or not become and what we intend to do or not do depend upon our attachments.

Most people have some or other attachments due to which they make such decisions that they don't want to, just because they love that person or that thing.

Arjuna was also attached to certain beliefs, values and notions besides family, friends and relations. He did not consider it right to kill his grandfather and teacher just because they were on the evil’s side. This thinking of his was due to his attachment with them.

Kṣat means hurt and trāyate means to give protection. One who gives protection from harm is called kṣatriya.

Arjuna being a kṣatriya had a duty to protect people from evil. But he did not want to fight as he thought that it was of no use if all of them would die in this fight with whom he wanted to enjoy the kingdom. He could not think beyond that. This is Attachment.

Lord Shri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita says:

ध्यायतो विषयान्पुंसः सङ्गस्तेषूपजायते ।

सङ्गात्सञ्जायते कामः कामात्क्रोधोऽभिजायते ॥2.62॥

 

Translation: While contemplating the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises. (BG 2.62)

We are attached to the things that gratify our senses as we are always after a material desire and if that desire gets fulfilled then we get attached to it as it gives us what we want.

Sense gratification is the root cause for Attachment.

Whenever we feel the urge of sense gratification and if that urge is fulfilled, we get attached to those things which help us gain that satisfaction.

In this world of illusion, we have material desires and those material desires develop attachments upon their completion so it is very important for us to pay attention to the root cause of attachment.

If we observe consciously, we see that attachments have a huge influence on our decisions. We tend to make decisions on basis of attachments or even attachments for material desires itself can lead to a very agitated life.

So, to live peacefully, simply, we need to detach ourselves from the material things we are attached to.

3. Lack of True Knowledge

Knowledge is that ally that helps you throughout your life to know what is right and what is not, what is good and what is not, what should we do be it in any situation and what should we not.

But on the material sphere, it is used as just a source to earn income or to install rage in people just for one’s gain.

Knowledge on the material sphere means how to earn an income, how to harm someone, how to use someone for their gain, how to not let someone grow, how to grab someone’s property, etc.

Today knowledge is on its other parallel. People just use it for their benefit and sometimes even to harm someone.

But,

#What is Real Knowledge?


Lord Shri Krishna, in the Bhagavad Gita, tells us what true Knowledge is. He says:

अमानित्वमदम्भित्वमहिंसा क्षान्तिरार्जवम् ।

आचार्योपासनं शौचं स्थैर्यमात्मविनिग्रह: ॥13.8॥

इन्द्रियार्थेषु वैराग्यमनहङ्कार एव च ।

जन्ममृत्युजराव्याधिदु:खदोषानुदर्शनम् ॥13.9॥

असक्तिरनभिष्वङ्ग: पुत्रदारगृहादिषु ।

नित्यं च समचित्तत्वमिष्टानिष्टोपपत्तिषु ॥13.10॥

मयि चानन्ययोगेन भक्तिरव्यभिचारिणी ।

विविक्तदेशसेवित्वमरतिर्जनसंसदि ॥13.11॥

अध्यात्मज्ञाननित्यत्वं तत्त्वज्ञानार्थदर्शनम् ।

एतज्ज्ञानमिति प्रोक्तमज्ञानं यदतोऽन्यथा ॥13.12॥

 

Translation: Humility; pride-lessness; non-violence; tolerance; simplicity; approaching a bona fide spiritual master; cleanliness; steadiness; self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification; absence of false ego; the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; detachment; freedom from entanglement with children, wife, home and the rest; even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me; aspiring to live in a solitary place; detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization; and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth – all these I declare to be knowledge, and besides this whatever there maybe is ignorance. (BG 13.8-12)

 

According to Shri Krishna, when we find real self and we see ourselves from within and try to understand what we really are, when we try to understand the spiritual sphere and get above the material sphere, when we don’t desire or work for sense gratification rather, we work for the upper truth or happiness and when we search for absolute truth, that is when we are after the Real Knowledge.

Conclusion:


Solution to all the suffering comes with knowing the roots of your suffering. We discussed the reasons for our sufferings but we can also see that in the causes there is the solution.

 

As per Bhagavad Gita, There is suffering till, we are in this material body, in this material world and the only solution is to hanker to know about the real self, that which is eternal and free from all anxiety, attachments and is not a subject to destruction.

 

Shri Krishna Says:


यदा ते मोहकलिलं बुद्धिर्व्यतितरिष्यति ।
तदा गन्तासि निर्वेदं श्रोतव्यस्य श्रुतस्य च ॥2.52॥

Translation: When your intelligence has passed out of the dense forest of delusion, you shall become indifferent to all that has been heard and all that is to be heard. (BG 2.52)

We need to accept the fact that there’s more to know than what we already know.

 

We know that we see and that we hear but there is more for us to know than that and that, we can only know if we have the thirst for real knowledge.


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