14/02/2022
Beautiful article from Swami Niranjanananda on Understanding what is a sufferings by identifying the nature of our suffering.
Also it happens to be Swamiji's birthday today.
Understanding Suffering
The original philosophy of yoga as expounded by the ascetic Shiva to his disciple and consort Parvati came about with the question that Parvati asked, "How can one overcome pain and suffering in life?" To this Shiva answered, " Suffering is not necessarily pain, but a change in the static existence of life. "You can observe this in your life. When you are not able to handle change, it is experienced as suffering, but if you are comfortable with change, it does not become suffering.
Source of Suffering
The suffering or disturbance that is experienced in the static state has three sources. One category of suffering is caused by natural calamities, and is called adhidaivic. Global warming is a cause of suffering. The external climate creates suffering. It disturbs the ease of the body, mind and prana. Disturbance in the ease of life is known as suffering. Suffering does not necessitate that one screams and cries and asks for solace; it is disturbance in the natural ease and comfort of life, which changes the mental behaviour and emotional makeup. It changes everything.
If the weather turns cold, the body begins to shiver. The natural ease of the body is disturbed and that is felt as suffering. If sufficient warm clothes are worn, the cold still exists but one does not perceive it as suffering. The same is true of heat or any other natural circumstance. If one is unable to adjust to it, it becomes the cause of suffering and disturbance. If one is able to adjust to it, there is no suffering.
The second source of suffering is adhyatmic, destined, unknown, emanating from within in the form of samskaras and karmas, or swabhava, the nature of an individual. If the karmas and nature of an individual are tamasic, their life will be tamasic. If the nature and character of an individual is rajasic, their life will be rajasic. If they are sattwic, their life will be sattwic. The karmas, samskaras, gunas and nature that one comes endowed with are a cause of disturbance in the ease of life, for one is not able to control, channel or even realize the inner unconscious behaviours.
The third source of suffering, called adhibhautic, is identification or interaction with one's surroundings. This is the main source of suffering and pain in human life. People always try to justify their association with things that have no relevance in their life. For years they remain attached to events, people or circumstances that have influenced and affected their life, whether positively or negatively, and continue to carry the old baggage.
Somebody may have rebuked you ten or twenty years ago, but the memory of that rebuke is still fresh in the mind. The stress created by that rebuke is still fresh in the mind, and when you come across the person with whom you had the alteration, you remember that particular moment which turned you against him or him against you. You remember the moment of crisis, the moment when your personal ease and comfort was disturbed. This happens all the time.
In the ashram, one learns to recognize one's altercations as ego clashes: your ego clashing with someone else's ego. That ego clash is suffering. It takes one away from the state of peace and bliss, and induces a state of disturbance and anxiety. That is weakness of the ego. When the ego is weak, it becomes arrogant. There is a saying, "Inside every bully, there is a crying child waiting to come out." When the ego is weak, it develops a hard character. If the ego is strong, it becomes soft, as you are confident and do not worry about anything. You are only concerned with maintaining a clear mind. With a weak ego, you put a lot of rubbish in the mind and try to hide behind different masks. That is suffering, due to stress, ego, personal expectations and associations.
Origin of Yoga & Pashupata Yoga
Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati
