We have already discussed (or in your case, read through) the two steps namely
1. Identifying the cause of misery
Birth
Death
Old Age
Disease
2. Solution
We identified that whatever mistake we did to have suffered these miseries, we should not do. Like a person should not commit crime if he doesn't want to suffer in jail.
Now we come to the third step, i.e Identify the things which make us happy
Indeed very important. A person should know what makes one happy. It sounds foolish to even consider the situation otherwise.
For example, if we want to make someone we love happy, we really need to know that person.
A dog likes a bone, we cant expect to make it happy by giving it a tomato or a pizza or a pastry for that matter.
Similarly a person has some inherent desires whcih need to be fulfilled which will take him to the state of happiness.
Like to make XYZ happy, i need to know who XYZ is ? is it a dog, a bird, a cow, a kid, an adult, a man or a woman ?
To identify the cause of happiness, it is important to identify the one who needs to be made happy.
In this case we need to make ourselves happy. The object of all my pursuits should be "me" "I".
The question is who is me? Who am I ? I am still wondering, what about you ?
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Its Really Stupid to Suffer
Its Really Stupid to Suffer
It's really stupid to suffer when we can be enjoying unlimited bliss at every minute. And that is the foolish mistake we are making right now. It is especially stupid when we consider that there is a readily available oasis in this vast desolate wasteland of material existence, a place of shelter where we can be fully satisfied far, far beyond our wildest imagination. The difficulty in finding this oasis is that there are thousands and millions of mirages to divert our minds. Fooled by mirages, we are misled down a one-way path to death, and we become trapped once again in another term of imprisonment in the devastatingly miserable cycle of repeated birth and death.
If we want to attain that oasis we must accept the shelter of a qualified guide who will personally take us there. If we try to make it on our own we will never be able to distinguish the mirage oases from the real oasis, and we will surely end up once again as statistics, more of that huge number of unfortunate souls who could not get it together spiritually and were obliged once again to glide down to the animal species in their next lifetime to fulfill their material desires.
We could easily accept the shelter of such a qualified guide, but the problem is that we are far too proud to take the guidance of anything other than our own minds. And following the dictates of our highly illusioned minds we remain illusioned lifetime after lifetime with no hope of ever being liberated.
Our only hope is if we somehow or other are fortunate enough to meet such a guide and at the same time are willing to open our minds enough to non-prejudicially hear what he has to say.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
It's really stupid to suffer when we can be enjoying unlimited bliss at every minute. And that is the foolish mistake we are making right now. It is especially stupid when we consider that there is a readily available oasis in this vast desolate wasteland of material existence, a place of shelter where we can be fully satisfied far, far beyond our wildest imagination. The difficulty in finding this oasis is that there are thousands and millions of mirages to divert our minds. Fooled by mirages, we are misled down a one-way path to death, and we become trapped once again in another term of imprisonment in the devastatingly miserable cycle of repeated birth and death.
If we want to attain that oasis we must accept the shelter of a qualified guide who will personally take us there. If we try to make it on our own we will never be able to distinguish the mirage oases from the real oasis, and we will surely end up once again as statistics, more of that huge number of unfortunate souls who could not get it together spiritually and were obliged once again to glide down to the animal species in their next lifetime to fulfill their material desires.
We could easily accept the shelter of such a qualified guide, but the problem is that we are far too proud to take the guidance of anything other than our own minds. And following the dictates of our highly illusioned minds we remain illusioned lifetime after lifetime with no hope of ever being liberated.
Our only hope is if we somehow or other are fortunate enough to meet such a guide and at the same time are willing to open our minds enough to non-prejudicially hear what he has to say.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
The Problem-free Zone - Spiritual Sky
Hope yesterday's post evoked some thinking. Well if it did, then its a great thing. But if it didn't, its ok. We can't expect to suddenly become serious about life's happiness which we disregarded for so long.
One Thing is here we are not denying that these 4 are the only problems. What I wanted to convey was that even if one makes not a single wrong move in one's entire lifetime, he may escape all the problems but these 4 problems never cease to afflict that person. Its like these 4 are default miseries which are bound to happen, whether you do anything or not. So our aim should be towards removing these 4 default problems. Rest all are byproducts of these 4 only.
Anyways. We talked about doing something wrong like the thief did, which lead to our ultimate misfortune.
May be we are in this world ---> reason for our suffering. Now what to do? But then where else to go ?
If we carefully study Bhagwad Gita, Sri Krishna speaks of his abode which is full of bliss and full of eternality.
na tad bhasayate suryo
na sasanko na pavakah
yad gatva na nivartante
tad dhama paramam mama
[BG15.6]
That abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by electricity. One who reaches it never returns to this material world.
avyakto 'ksara ity uktas
tam ahuh paramam gatim
yam prapya na nivartante
tad dhama paramam mama
[BG7.1]
That supreme abode is called unmanifested and infallible, and it is the supreme destination. When one goes there, he never comes back. That is My supreme abode.
So we are like fish out of water. As the lord describes his abode and then our abode. We see the difference. So due to some reason we have come to this world and now suffering the reactions. And so long we put up in this world we are bound to suffer at least the four miseries. The solution is to go back to our real home. And Sri krishna is giving us an open invitation. The intelligence is in accepting it and solving the problem forever.
Brahma - the first living entity to be born in this material creation in his prayers to Sri Krishna describes his supreme abode as
śriyaḥ kāntāḥ kāntaḥ parama-puruṣaḥ kalpa-taravo
drumā bhūmiś cintāmaṇi-gaṇa-mayi toyam amṛtam
kathā gānaḿ nāṭyaḿ gamanam api vaḿśī priya-sakhi
cid-ānandaḿ jyotiḥ param api tad āsvādyam api ca
sa yatra kṣīrābdhiḥ sravati surabhībhyaś ca su-mahān
nimeṣārdhākhyo vā vrajati na hi yatrāpi samayaḥ
bhaje śvetadvīpaḿ tam aham iha golokam iti yaḿ
vidantas te santaḥ kṣiti-virala-cārāḥ katipaye
TRANSLATION
I worship that transcendental seat, known as Śvetadvīpa where as loving consorts the Lakṣmīs in their unalloyed spiritual essence practice the service of the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa as their only lover; 1where every tree is a transcendental purpose tree;2 where the soil is the purpose gem, 3all water is nectar, every word is a song, every gait is a dance, the flute is the favorite attendant, effulgence is full of transcendental bliss and 4the supreme spiritual entities are all enjoyable and tasty, where5 numberless milk cows always emit transcendental oceans of milk; where 6there is eternal existence of transcendental time, who is ever present and without past or future and hence is not subject to the quality of passing away even for the space of half a moment. That realm is known as Goloka only to a very few self-realized souls in this world.
Is it intelligent to change homes to a distant place just to solve these problems. Whats the guarantee? But if we are ready to go to The Europe, The Americas just in search of a few more dollars and few Euros, trying to lead a distess-free enjoyable life. Where's the guarantee ?
At least in the former case, the Owner of that place is guaranteeing. And he is none other than Krishna, the God, the father, the source, the only truth. Inlatter case its not even sure whether we'll be able to make it or not ?
So if we could somehow bring ourselves to achieve that abode, its confirmed by the lord that we'll never ever be afflicted by any misery.
Thats our only relief and only solution.
Any contention ? Write back!!!!!
One Thing is here we are not denying that these 4 are the only problems. What I wanted to convey was that even if one makes not a single wrong move in one's entire lifetime, he may escape all the problems but these 4 problems never cease to afflict that person. Its like these 4 are default miseries which are bound to happen, whether you do anything or not. So our aim should be towards removing these 4 default problems. Rest all are byproducts of these 4 only.
Anyways. We talked about doing something wrong like the thief did, which lead to our ultimate misfortune.
May be we are in this world ---> reason for our suffering. Now what to do? But then where else to go ?
If we carefully study Bhagwad Gita, Sri Krishna speaks of his abode which is full of bliss and full of eternality.
na tad bhasayate suryo
na sasanko na pavakah
yad gatva na nivartante
tad dhama paramam mama
[BG15.6]
That abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by electricity. One who reaches it never returns to this material world.
avyakto 'ksara ity uktas
tam ahuh paramam gatim
yam prapya na nivartante
tad dhama paramam mama
[BG7.1]
That supreme abode is called unmanifested and infallible, and it is the supreme destination. When one goes there, he never comes back. That is My supreme abode.
So we are like fish out of water. As the lord describes his abode and then our abode. We see the difference. So due to some reason we have come to this world and now suffering the reactions. And so long we put up in this world we are bound to suffer at least the four miseries. The solution is to go back to our real home. And Sri krishna is giving us an open invitation. The intelligence is in accepting it and solving the problem forever.
Brahma - the first living entity to be born in this material creation in his prayers to Sri Krishna describes his supreme abode as
śriyaḥ kāntāḥ kāntaḥ parama-puruṣaḥ kalpa-taravo
drumā bhūmiś cintāmaṇi-gaṇa-mayi toyam amṛtam
kathā gānaḿ nāṭyaḿ gamanam api vaḿśī priya-sakhi
cid-ānandaḿ jyotiḥ param api tad āsvādyam api ca
sa yatra kṣīrābdhiḥ sravati surabhībhyaś ca su-mahān
nimeṣārdhākhyo vā vrajati na hi yatrāpi samayaḥ
bhaje śvetadvīpaḿ tam aham iha golokam iti yaḿ
vidantas te santaḥ kṣiti-virala-cārāḥ katipaye
TRANSLATION
I worship that transcendental seat, known as Śvetadvīpa where as loving consorts the Lakṣmīs in their unalloyed spiritual essence practice the service of the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa as their only lover; 1where every tree is a transcendental purpose tree;2 where the soil is the purpose gem, 3all water is nectar, every word is a song, every gait is a dance, the flute is the favorite attendant, effulgence is full of transcendental bliss and 4the supreme spiritual entities are all enjoyable and tasty, where5 numberless milk cows always emit transcendental oceans of milk; where 6there is eternal existence of transcendental time, who is ever present and without past or future and hence is not subject to the quality of passing away even for the space of half a moment. That realm is known as Goloka only to a very few self-realized souls in this world.
Is it intelligent to change homes to a distant place just to solve these problems. Whats the guarantee? But if we are ready to go to The Europe, The Americas just in search of a few more dollars and few Euros, trying to lead a distess-free enjoyable life. Where's the guarantee ?
At least in the former case, the Owner of that place is guaranteeing. And he is none other than Krishna, the God, the father, the source, the only truth. Inlatter case its not even sure whether we'll be able to make it or not ?
So if we could somehow bring ourselves to achieve that abode, its confirmed by the lord that we'll never ever be afflicted by any misery.
Thats our only relief and only solution.
Any contention ? Write back!!!!!
Solving the problems of life - 1
Step 2: Eradicating Problems
So we have been reading about the major problems of life, i.e. to say Birth, Death, OldAge, Disease.
Many of you replied saying that everyone of us knows about these problems, but since we have no control over them we should not think about them and cause anxiety. Krishna, on the contrary states otherwise.
See now that we are here, we'll have to suffer the reactions of the material world. - Disease, old age, death. The moment we took birth we were sentenced to these problems. But the intelligence is in doing something so that at least we dont have to suffer these things again.
Its like a person steals and gets punished and is in the jail. He has to agree to certain strict schedule. Doing extreme hardwork. Sometimes even menial work. He gets food which is not very relishing. Now its out of control to do anything.
But if he uses his intelligence to realise his misery and resolves not to undergo such misery again, he can be called a wise man. A thief, but a wise man.
So if he does some backtracking, he'll understand, it was his act of stealing which put him into this problematic situation. And once he commits, to not steal again, once he completes his term. He will never again have to suffer the jail conditions.
Coming back to reality, thinking back and back analysing we should also come to a conclusion about our miseries. What was that one thing we did wrong that led us to this world. Remember Krishna says in Bhagwad gita that this world is "dukhalaya" - abode of misery.
Now this thinking process, contemplation on this particular subject matter is only a human's privilige. Its the man's foremost duty to enquire into the nature of problems and then try to find out solutions.
This has been written in our scriptures. Vedanta Sutra is a scripture which enjoins the vedic wisdom into one-line quotes. And the first sutra (principle) is
Athato Brahmna Jigyasa
Means "Now is the time to enquire".
Now ----> here means now that you, the living entity has got a human body, you should enquire. So all in all its not selfish or wrong to get rid of problems. Don't get cheated by people who say "problems are a part of life, everyone has to suffer them, so you do so too". Cos here even god says that get rid of the problems.
Leaving you to ponder over this subject and come to some sort of conclusion. It might help to go through this twice.
So happy contemplating.
So we have been reading about the major problems of life, i.e. to say Birth, Death, OldAge, Disease.
Many of you replied saying that everyone of us knows about these problems, but since we have no control over them we should not think about them and cause anxiety. Krishna, on the contrary states otherwise.
See now that we are here, we'll have to suffer the reactions of the material world. - Disease, old age, death. The moment we took birth we were sentenced to these problems. But the intelligence is in doing something so that at least we dont have to suffer these things again.
Its like a person steals and gets punished and is in the jail. He has to agree to certain strict schedule. Doing extreme hardwork. Sometimes even menial work. He gets food which is not very relishing. Now its out of control to do anything.
But if he uses his intelligence to realise his misery and resolves not to undergo such misery again, he can be called a wise man. A thief, but a wise man.
So if he does some backtracking, he'll understand, it was his act of stealing which put him into this problematic situation. And once he commits, to not steal again, once he completes his term. He will never again have to suffer the jail conditions.
Coming back to reality, thinking back and back analysing we should also come to a conclusion about our miseries. What was that one thing we did wrong that led us to this world. Remember Krishna says in Bhagwad gita that this world is "dukhalaya" - abode of misery.
Now this thinking process, contemplation on this particular subject matter is only a human's privilige. Its the man's foremost duty to enquire into the nature of problems and then try to find out solutions.
This has been written in our scriptures. Vedanta Sutra is a scripture which enjoins the vedic wisdom into one-line quotes. And the first sutra (principle) is
Athato Brahmna Jigyasa
Means "Now is the time to enquire".
Now ----> here means now that you, the living entity has got a human body, you should enquire. So all in all its not selfish or wrong to get rid of problems. Don't get cheated by people who say "problems are a part of life, everyone has to suffer them, so you do so too". Cos here even god says that get rid of the problems.
Leaving you to ponder over this subject and come to some sort of conclusion. It might help to go through this twice.
So happy contemplating.
Disease
Today is the day we'll finish off with the last problem of life.
To remind you, we are discussing How to achieve absolute/ultimate happiness.
The first step: Identify the problems/ causes of distress.
Under this we have already discussed 1. Birth 2. Death 3. Old Age.
Today we'll try to understand the last main problem.
4) Disease
Who's not fallen into this one. Everyone of us has experienced this problem in some form or other. Major or minor.
From toothache to bruises , stomach pains to nauseating head aches.
In childhood itself we face the dangers of pneumonia, chicken pox, TB, polio.
We were lucky that we were born in families that helped us overcome these diseases and prevented any major damage.
Can anyone of us pick one point of time when each part of body was saying "I am OK!" There's always that li'l finger or ear or leg, a skin rash, sore throat.
Something is there.
We so proudly declare that we have almost made polio and plague disappear from the face of this world.
But what about the invitation we gave to AIDS, Cancer, Obesity, Heart Aches, and so many STDs. Where were these when the easrlier extinct diseases had their monopoly.
Nobody is safe from diseases. No matter how virtuous or sinner one is. No matter how health conscious one is. No matter how lazy and careless one is.
Everyone has to undergo the ill-reactions of the body. No exception.
----------------------------------------
Concluding, Krishna has said,
janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi duhkha-dosanudarsanam (BG 13.9)
i.e "intelligent person is one who perceives the evil of birth, death, old age and disease".
So I hope now all of us are almost intelligent. If there's some contention, get back or consult Bhagwad Gita - The complete source of knowledge.
To remind you, we are discussing How to achieve absolute/ultimate happiness.
The first step: Identify the problems/ causes of distress.
Under this we have already discussed 1. Birth 2. Death 3. Old Age.
Today we'll try to understand the last main problem.
4) Disease
Who's not fallen into this one. Everyone of us has experienced this problem in some form or other. Major or minor.
From toothache to bruises , stomach pains to nauseating head aches.
In childhood itself we face the dangers of pneumonia, chicken pox, TB, polio.
We were lucky that we were born in families that helped us overcome these diseases and prevented any major damage.
Can anyone of us pick one point of time when each part of body was saying "I am OK!" There's always that li'l finger or ear or leg, a skin rash, sore throat.
Something is there.
We so proudly declare that we have almost made polio and plague disappear from the face of this world.
But what about the invitation we gave to AIDS, Cancer, Obesity, Heart Aches, and so many STDs. Where were these when the easrlier extinct diseases had their monopoly.
Nobody is safe from diseases. No matter how virtuous or sinner one is. No matter how health conscious one is. No matter how lazy and careless one is.
Everyone has to undergo the ill-reactions of the body. No exception.
----------------------------------------
Concluding, Krishna has said,
janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi duhkha-dosanudarsanam (BG 13.9)
i.e "intelligent person is one who perceives the evil of birth, death, old age and disease".
So I hope now all of us are almost intelligent. If there's some contention, get back or consult Bhagwad Gita - The complete source of knowledge.
Old Age....who cares? lot of time left.
Continuing with our subject. We have already covered the two problems of life: Birth & Death.
Some people gave their feedback that it was a very negative outlook by completely denying any positive result. But we are forgetting that our basic premise to reach the final stage of ULTIMATE HAPPINESS is complete eradication of problems.
If one foolishly feels that sadness is necessary to realise the importance of happiness, then I am sorry to say one is seriously illusioned. Cessation of pain should not be percieved as bliss, but as a relief. And similarly birth or death. Though they force us to look at the small happy events of life, nontheless they are problems and should be treated likewise.
Jugglery of words and making problems sound like " Gold becomes pure only after undergoing a lot of heating" and "one learns from mistakes and problems" is cheating oneself of pure bliss. In that case achieving happiness is easy. Cut yourself with a knife -- Pain. Bandage yourself and realise the importance of not being cut -- Happiness.(sine wave) But this process is not an intelligent proposition.
Now I will describe the next problem briefly.
3) Old Age
Do I need to explain anything. We've all seen the ill treatment meted out to the senior citizens by both nature and their family members.
Again we'll see this from 2 views.
i. Physical Agony
Arthiritis, Indigestion, Cataract, Deafness, Rheumatoid, Heart Problems, Inflexibility, Breathlessness. All these and many more. A person becomes limited in one's mobility. Slowly and gradually keeps on becoming dependent on others. In short, the body starts preparing for ultimate destruction by slowly decaying into useless dead matter. The pain in joints is unbearable. Try asking someone in your immediate acquaintance. Please dont mind, the words might seem harsh.
ii. Mental Agony
Loss of beauty: the skin wrinkles, the hair starts greying, the once flexible waist starts becoming a rigid girdle. And the body sags at just the right
places. All ego of being once beautiful thrashed.
Loss of independence: We generally pride ourselves in being independent. So happy that we are staying out of our homes and yet doing quite good. Then we gradually even get ready to take charge of a complete family. But then finally what happens, if we are so fortunate to reach this stage of life ? We become utterly dependent. For food, company, mobility. Sometimes the situation so worsens that one is reduced to an invalid. Being bed-ridden one becomes dependent on immediate family members for even basic needs like nature's call.
Loss of companion: Then comes the ultimate test. The world is already a changed place. One no longer identifies with the current world, being born in a previous era. All the recognizable faces are lost. Parents gone. Uncles & Aunts gone. Some contemporary people like siblings and friends gone. The final blow comes with the passing of the spouse. That special person who we searched for and promised to spend life till death do us part. And the death takes it toll and really do us part. Become completely lonely, with no one to sit with us and hear our endless ideas and thoughts.
Just remember the last time you sat with your grandpa or granny for 2 hours and shared their stories.
My goodness, so much pain, so much agony, who would like to face a problem like that? For one I wouldn't. The question is Would You ?
Some people gave their feedback that it was a very negative outlook by completely denying any positive result. But we are forgetting that our basic premise to reach the final stage of ULTIMATE HAPPINESS is complete eradication of problems.
If one foolishly feels that sadness is necessary to realise the importance of happiness, then I am sorry to say one is seriously illusioned. Cessation of pain should not be percieved as bliss, but as a relief. And similarly birth or death. Though they force us to look at the small happy events of life, nontheless they are problems and should be treated likewise.
Jugglery of words and making problems sound like " Gold becomes pure only after undergoing a lot of heating" and "one learns from mistakes and problems" is cheating oneself of pure bliss. In that case achieving happiness is easy. Cut yourself with a knife -- Pain. Bandage yourself and realise the importance of not being cut -- Happiness.(sine wave) But this process is not an intelligent proposition.
Now I will describe the next problem briefly.
3) Old Age
Do I need to explain anything. We've all seen the ill treatment meted out to the senior citizens by both nature and their family members.
Again we'll see this from 2 views.
i. Physical Agony
Arthiritis, Indigestion, Cataract, Deafness, Rheumatoid, Heart Problems, Inflexibility, Breathlessness. All these and many more. A person becomes limited in one's mobility. Slowly and gradually keeps on becoming dependent on others. In short, the body starts preparing for ultimate destruction by slowly decaying into useless dead matter. The pain in joints is unbearable. Try asking someone in your immediate acquaintance. Please dont mind, the words might seem harsh.
ii. Mental Agony
Loss of beauty: the skin wrinkles, the hair starts greying, the once flexible waist starts becoming a rigid girdle. And the body sags at just the right
places. All ego of being once beautiful thrashed.
Loss of independence: We generally pride ourselves in being independent. So happy that we are staying out of our homes and yet doing quite good. Then we gradually even get ready to take charge of a complete family. But then finally what happens, if we are so fortunate to reach this stage of life ? We become utterly dependent. For food, company, mobility. Sometimes the situation so worsens that one is reduced to an invalid. Being bed-ridden one becomes dependent on immediate family members for even basic needs like nature's call.
Loss of companion: Then comes the ultimate test. The world is already a changed place. One no longer identifies with the current world, being born in a previous era. All the recognizable faces are lost. Parents gone. Uncles & Aunts gone. Some contemporary people like siblings and friends gone. The final blow comes with the passing of the spouse. That special person who we searched for and promised to spend life till death do us part. And the death takes it toll and really do us part. Become completely lonely, with no one to sit with us and hear our endless ideas and thoughts.
Just remember the last time you sat with your grandpa or granny for 2 hours and shared their stories.
My goodness, so much pain, so much agony, who would like to face a problem like that? For one I wouldn't. The question is Would You ?
Death....will it come for me too ?
After knowing the torture of birth, let us proceed to the the 2nd problem of our life.
2. Death
Well, i dont think I need to elaborate on this one much. Because pretty much everyone considers it to be a puzzling problem.
Everyone at one point of life thinks "Why do we have to die ?"
Almost everyone is afraid of death. Why? because that is percieved to be the end of life. The life which we so carefully try to mould according to our fancies. So that we may derrive the maximum pleasure from it. And there's nothing wrong about it. But the amazing thing is we all forget our own impending death even though we see death all around us. Death in news, death in neighborhood, and death in our own family. Such a sad and depressing event, when we lose our near & dear ones. But this forgetfulness is a separate topic and would be dealt likewise.
Coming back to the problem of death. We'll understand it from two perspectives.
(i) Shastric view
In Garuda purana, the detailed experience of death is described. The living entity at the time of leaving the gross body, feels pain that can't be imagined. Its described the pain one experiences is equivalent to 10,000 of snake bites and 10,000 scorpio stings. Probably its right, we cant imagine it. So its best to forget about what we cannot percieve. but thats not a very intelligent proposition.
(ii) Rational view
Remember the last time when you lost a near one. The unimaginable heart ache you felt. Remember the last relationship that broke due to some reason ? How bad it felt to have lost all that in which u invested emotionally ? When you just prayed god for strength and courage to get you through this unbearable pain.
Now this was just one relation that caused you so much trouble/agony/misery.
At the time of death, that inevitable eventuality, a person loses all the relationships and near ones at one stroke. Its like the pain experienced in the above situation multiplied by the number of things and people dear to us. oh! God how can you make me suffer this unbearable, unthinkable pain. How will i tolerate the loss of my loving mother, my doting father, a caring husband/wife and beautiful respecting kids. How will I tolerate the loss of my best friends that I met and cared for over the years of my life? All my accomplishments, a house built with such hard work. All will be lost in one stroke. May be I won't even get a chance to bid them a goodbye. Who knows ? Oh! Lord how can you be so cruel ? Why do I have to undergo such trouble? What wrong have I done ?
Please I don't want to go throught this trouble again & again. thinking about it is so frightening. I dont wanna experience death again.
the question is Do You?
2. Death
Well, i dont think I need to elaborate on this one much. Because pretty much everyone considers it to be a puzzling problem.
Everyone at one point of life thinks "Why do we have to die ?"
Almost everyone is afraid of death. Why? because that is percieved to be the end of life. The life which we so carefully try to mould according to our fancies. So that we may derrive the maximum pleasure from it. And there's nothing wrong about it. But the amazing thing is we all forget our own impending death even though we see death all around us. Death in news, death in neighborhood, and death in our own family. Such a sad and depressing event, when we lose our near & dear ones. But this forgetfulness is a separate topic and would be dealt likewise.
Coming back to the problem of death. We'll understand it from two perspectives.
(i) Shastric view
In Garuda purana, the detailed experience of death is described. The living entity at the time of leaving the gross body, feels pain that can't be imagined. Its described the pain one experiences is equivalent to 10,000 of snake bites and 10,000 scorpio stings. Probably its right, we cant imagine it. So its best to forget about what we cannot percieve. but thats not a very intelligent proposition.
(ii) Rational view
Remember the last time when you lost a near one. The unimaginable heart ache you felt. Remember the last relationship that broke due to some reason ? How bad it felt to have lost all that in which u invested emotionally ? When you just prayed god for strength and courage to get you through this unbearable pain.
Now this was just one relation that caused you so much trouble/agony/misery.
At the time of death, that inevitable eventuality, a person loses all the relationships and near ones at one stroke. Its like the pain experienced in the above situation multiplied by the number of things and people dear to us. oh! God how can you make me suffer this unbearable, unthinkable pain. How will i tolerate the loss of my loving mother, my doting father, a caring husband/wife and beautiful respecting kids. How will I tolerate the loss of my best friends that I met and cared for over the years of my life? All my accomplishments, a house built with such hard work. All will be lost in one stroke. May be I won't even get a chance to bid them a goodbye. Who knows ? Oh! Lord how can you be so cruel ? Why do I have to undergo such trouble? What wrong have I done ?
Please I don't want to go throught this trouble again & again. thinking about it is so frightening. I dont wanna experience death again.
the question is Do You?
Birth.....a misery ?
Good day
We were on the first step to achieve the ultimate happiness, i.e, To identify the causes of our suffering, the main problems.
Then we talked about the four miseries that affect everyone, viz: Birth, Death, Old Age & Disease.
Let us now understand how these are the main problems of our lives, which need to be eradicated.
1. Birth.
Most people would probably fall off their chair after reading this.
You must be thinking, "How can someone call the miracle of birth, a happy arrival, beginning of a new journey a problem. How rude and how stone hearted ?"
Its not me who says its a problem. Its Krishna. What to do? He's our creator he must be knowing and must be saying the right thing.
Let us understand how this seemingly happy note is a problem. A birth in a family may be a joyous situation for the family members. But let us see it from the point of view of the person who's born.
Imagine a person is locked inside a dark room for some time. and when the door opens he comes out crying. What would be the rational conclusion ? It would be logical and rational to think that the person must have undergone some serious trouble/ beating/agony.
Now see a baby who is just born. It cries and screams like anything. After 9 months staying in the dark womb of a mother. The womb, 1a mucous filled place, 2close to the organs storing body's waste product. The embryo is attached just below the stomach, which gets 3heated up due to digestion of food.
Moreover the embryo is attached in an 4inverted position. The consciousness develops in the initial weeks after conception. Undergoing so much agony, the baby faints again and again. The situation is so miserable that it can't do anything about it, but just pray for getting out of that hell hole.
Someone may rightly say, so what if we underwent so much pain, we don't remember anything.
Its like if I break that person's nose right now, 10 yrs down the lane he wont remmber the pain either. That doesnt mean that undergoing the pain is OK, if we forget it later.
Similarly the birth of a person is the most painful event in one's eternal journey.
I for one would never like to undergo such 3rd degree hellish torture.The question is Would You ?
To be contd......
We were on the first step to achieve the ultimate happiness, i.e, To identify the causes of our suffering, the main problems.
Then we talked about the four miseries that affect everyone, viz: Birth, Death, Old Age & Disease.
Let us now understand how these are the main problems of our lives, which need to be eradicated.
1. Birth.
Most people would probably fall off their chair after reading this.
You must be thinking, "How can someone call the miracle of birth, a happy arrival, beginning of a new journey a problem. How rude and how stone hearted ?"
Its not me who says its a problem. Its Krishna. What to do? He's our creator he must be knowing and must be saying the right thing.
Let us understand how this seemingly happy note is a problem. A birth in a family may be a joyous situation for the family members. But let us see it from the point of view of the person who's born.
Imagine a person is locked inside a dark room for some time. and when the door opens he comes out crying. What would be the rational conclusion ? It would be logical and rational to think that the person must have undergone some serious trouble/ beating/agony.
Now see a baby who is just born. It cries and screams like anything. After 9 months staying in the dark womb of a mother. The womb, 1a mucous filled place, 2close to the organs storing body's waste product. The embryo is attached just below the stomach, which gets 3heated up due to digestion of food.
Moreover the embryo is attached in an 4inverted position. The consciousness develops in the initial weeks after conception. Undergoing so much agony, the baby faints again and again. The situation is so miserable that it can't do anything about it, but just pray for getting out of that hell hole.
Someone may rightly say, so what if we underwent so much pain, we don't remember anything.
Its like if I break that person's nose right now, 10 yrs down the lane he wont remmber the pain either. That doesnt mean that undergoing the pain is OK, if we forget it later.
Similarly the birth of a person is the most painful event in one's eternal journey.
I for one would never like to undergo such 3rd degree hellish torture.The question is Would You ?
To be contd......
Identifying the causes of suffering
Hey!
Good Morning, How are you doing? Hope you have a great day ahead.
Continuing with the last post. We were logically looking at the process of achieving happiness.
The steps were
1. Identify the reasons for our distress/misery.
2. Eradicate them fully.
3. Identify the things which make us happy.
4. Achieve them.
5. Experience ever lasting, never ending bliss.
Elaborating step 1.
Identify the reasons for our distress/misery.
In our fast lifes, distress / suffering has become a part and parcel of our daily experience. in some form or other we are hurt. Do we agree?
I do. One day I wont get a bus to office on time, the other day if i get I wont get a seat. The next day even though both situations are favourable, my boss would still arrive earlier than me. All the reasons give stress, and if the intensity is raised it gets converted to distress.
Rightly so. Such is the nature of this world.
Now if Edison the inventor of a light bulb tells of an inherent defect in his creation. We will all agree to it very easily.
If Ford announces that life of its engine is only 10 years we won't question it and assume that it would be more. In essence, the creator or the designer knows about his creation and when he says so, we all accept it faithfully.
Our supreme benefactor, Krishna - the master, the creator of this universe has declared in his address to Arjuna:
That this world is dukhalayam ashashvatam. That means its an abode of misery and temporary.
So in this abode of misery (which the creator himself is saying) can we expect to achieve happiness. now dont confuse this realistic view with that of a pessimistic one. Today we have grown very much cynical and render every realistic bad news as pessimism.
Identifying a problem as a problem is not pessimism, but the first step to solving that problem.
Let us understand what these problems are ? They are also described by him, yes the creator.
The main problems of the life are forur in number. No matter what every living being, how ever may rich/healthy/beautiful that person be. The person is bound to be afflicted by these miseries.
1. Birth
2. Death
3. Old Age
4. Disease
krishna says " janma mrityu jara vyadhi, dukh doshanu darshanam": means an intelligent person is one who sees these four viz: janma (birth), mrityu (death), jara (old age) and vyadhi (disease) as the main problems of life.
Yes I agree, not everyone is fortunate enough to experience an old age. Many people leave their mortal lives much before that.
To be contd........
regards,
Your friend Shalav.
Good Morning, How are you doing? Hope you have a great day ahead.
Continuing with the last post. We were logically looking at the process of achieving happiness.
The steps were
1. Identify the reasons for our distress/misery.
2. Eradicate them fully.
3. Identify the things which make us happy.
4. Achieve them.
5. Experience ever lasting, never ending bliss.
Elaborating step 1.
Identify the reasons for our distress/misery.
In our fast lifes, distress / suffering has become a part and parcel of our daily experience. in some form or other we are hurt. Do we agree?
I do. One day I wont get a bus to office on time, the other day if i get I wont get a seat. The next day even though both situations are favourable, my boss would still arrive earlier than me. All the reasons give stress, and if the intensity is raised it gets converted to distress.
Rightly so. Such is the nature of this world.
Now if Edison the inventor of a light bulb tells of an inherent defect in his creation. We will all agree to it very easily.
If Ford announces that life of its engine is only 10 years we won't question it and assume that it would be more. In essence, the creator or the designer knows about his creation and when he says so, we all accept it faithfully.
Our supreme benefactor, Krishna - the master, the creator of this universe has declared in his address to Arjuna:
That this world is dukhalayam ashashvatam. That means its an abode of misery and temporary.
So in this abode of misery (which the creator himself is saying) can we expect to achieve happiness. now dont confuse this realistic view with that of a pessimistic one. Today we have grown very much cynical and render every realistic bad news as pessimism.
Identifying a problem as a problem is not pessimism, but the first step to solving that problem.
Let us understand what these problems are ? They are also described by him, yes the creator.
The main problems of the life are forur in number. No matter what every living being, how ever may rich/healthy/beautiful that person be. The person is bound to be afflicted by these miseries.
1. Birth
2. Death
3. Old Age
4. Disease
krishna says " janma mrityu jara vyadhi, dukh doshanu darshanam": means an intelligent person is one who sees these four viz: janma (birth), mrityu (death), jara (old age) and vyadhi (disease) as the main problems of life.
Yes I agree, not everyone is fortunate enough to experience an old age. Many people leave their mortal lives much before that.
To be contd........
regards,
Your friend Shalav.
What are we doing here ?
Hi!
What are we doing here?
This summer internship. MBA....slogging through the tiring office routine in a strange land. why are we doing this. Why are we compromising with a seemingly undesirable situations in which we have to separate from our families, tolerate our boss' egos (my boss is extremely good in that sense).
We are all doing this in order to achieve Happiness in a not so distant future. All life we hanker for this happiness and never in our life we reach a point where we say "Now its enough. Now I wont suffer anymore in want for more happiness.". We never reach the state of this ultimate happiness. I hope everyone agrees to this.
Now if we logically reflect on the cause of this unsatisfactory feeling, we can come to the conclusion that: we dont know how to achieve happiness ?
To achieve happiness, the logical steps would be:
1. Identify the reasons for our distress/misery.
2. Eradicate them fully.
3. Identify the things which make us happy.
4. Achieve them.
5. Experience ever lasting, never ending bliss.
Instead of sequentially following the first four steps, we end up mixing them and we never reach the final stage.
Think about it, and let me know if you agree or disagree with me.
What are we doing here?
This summer internship. MBA....slogging through the tiring office routine in a strange land. why are we doing this. Why are we compromising with a seemingly undesirable situations in which we have to separate from our families, tolerate our boss' egos (my boss is extremely good in that sense).
We are all doing this in order to achieve Happiness in a not so distant future. All life we hanker for this happiness and never in our life we reach a point where we say "Now its enough. Now I wont suffer anymore in want for more happiness.". We never reach the state of this ultimate happiness. I hope everyone agrees to this.
Now if we logically reflect on the cause of this unsatisfactory feeling, we can come to the conclusion that: we dont know how to achieve happiness ?
To achieve happiness, the logical steps would be:
1. Identify the reasons for our distress/misery.
2. Eradicate them fully.
3. Identify the things which make us happy.
4. Achieve them.
5. Experience ever lasting, never ending bliss.
Instead of sequentially following the first four steps, we end up mixing them and we never reach the final stage.
Think about it, and let me know if you agree or disagree with me.
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