All of us, though we seem to enjoy the world have experienced pain, so much so that many philosophers have called this world full of pain and sorrow. I can almost hear many people waving their hands and telling that this is wrong and that they are in no pain. Well, it is possible that one may not be in physical pain. But there could be mental pain in terms of losing a loved one, being hurt by someone's actions etc. Even if there is no mental pain, there would be intellectual pain involving a loss of face in a meeting, victory of a different group of people over mine, my country losing a international match etc. I can go on and on. But suffice it is to say, that there is a lot of pain experienced by anyone living in this world. Again,it is obvious, that removing one source of pain does not necessarily make me happy and peaceful. I may be cured of a bad headache, but may get a verbal lashing from the boss. Even if these do not happen, I may come home, switch on the TV and see my favorite team lose in basketball. What if, there is someway to end all pain and be peaceful? Well, one simple way sought out by the weak to end all pain is to end life. But is there a way to end all pain while continuing to live in this world? To answer the above question, we have to trace back the chain of pain to find out that root cause of pain which causes all pains. If that root cause is removed, then we will live in this world without any pain. Join me as we trace back the chain of pain.
As an example, let me assume that I am having severe pain in my foot. The reason for this pain or the circumstance causing this pain is that I am diabetic. Let us trace further back. The cause of this condition of diabetes is that I have been eating too much of sugar. Why did I eat too much sugar? It is because of my desire for something sweet. Now why did I want to eat sweet. It is because of a predisposition or a sort of programming from childhood that sweet is nice. Suppose my parents had never give me any sugar, would I even know what sweet is? Liking sweet is not a natural disposition. It is acquired or engineered. So something in the environment caused a condition for me to like sweet. Well, did my parents want to hurt me and hence gave me sweet? No! They were ignorant of the fact that sugar is addictive and bad for health. Strangely this ignorance not only hid the fact that sugar was bad, but also created a superimposition through the environment,that it was good. So let us now trace the chain of my pain.
Ignorance of bad effects of sugar > Superimposition that it is good> Creating a acquired taste of predisposition for sugar> Desire to eat sweets > Diabetes > Foot pain.
So the root cause of my foot pain was due to ignorance of ill effects of sugar. We can use a similar line of reasoning to trace back me throwing up blood, to the ignorance of the fact that smoking causes lung cancer resulting in throwing up blood.
We can use a similar chain to trace back, let's say fatigue. My fatigue is caused by me being constantly worried. My worry is caused by me thinking about my potential loss of promotion. My worry about promotion is because of my superimposed feeling that unless I have a BMW I cannot be happy and the promotion will make me get that. My feeling about a BMW as the need to improve my social standing and happiness is due to my ignorance of the fact that no material object can give me happiness.
All this is fine. We seem to be arriving at different sources of ignorance leading to different types of pains. What if there is a single source of all these sources of pains? Just as multiple rivers arise from the Himalayas, is there one single source of ignorance from which all the different sources of ignorance arise?
Readers of my blogs will know instantly what I am leading to. The single source of all "ignorances" is our ignorance of our true nature. What are we? We are the Absolute Consciousness, The Final Truth and the Immortal Serene Peace. Due to a quirk of the nature of this Supreme Bliss, ignorance covers us and we think we are the puny body-mind-intellect complex with a limited sphere of influence. This ignorance has given rise to each of the streams of ignorance leading to a complex set of pains in our daily life.
Suppose I knew smoking was bad for my health, would I smoke and end us as a cancer patient? So the "Knowing" is the most important thing to prevent ignorance and all its attendant ill effects. How would I know that smoking is bad? Hopefully I read health magazines, newspapers or listen to news, watch TV etc. So, the sources of true knowledge are many depending on one's interests. In the same way, to remove the ignorance of our true nature, there are many sources of knowledge. It could be the Upanishads in India, The Bible for the Christians etc. All scriptures ultimately reveal a man's true nature.
Just by reading that cancer is caused by smoking, I may or may not be convinced. I will probably validate this by asking knowledgeable people like doctors. I will probably listen to the stories told by cancer patients. So, in effect, after getting the knowledge, I may either totally trust the source or do my own independent validations. In the same way, after getting knowledge that the source of all my pain is due to ignorance as told in scriptures, I may either trust it fully or validate it by talking to spiritual teachers or by interacting with people who are calm and peaceful. Once the knowledge of cancer causing tobacco is validated, I will never smoke cigarettes and will not face the pain later. Similarly, once the knowledge of what causes my nature of ignorance is validated, I will not be ignorant and face potential pains in future.
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Please buy and read any of these books:
My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality
Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide
The Spirit of Spirituality
As an example, let me assume that I am having severe pain in my foot. The reason for this pain or the circumstance causing this pain is that I am diabetic. Let us trace further back. The cause of this condition of diabetes is that I have been eating too much of sugar. Why did I eat too much sugar? It is because of my desire for something sweet. Now why did I want to eat sweet. It is because of a predisposition or a sort of programming from childhood that sweet is nice. Suppose my parents had never give me any sugar, would I even know what sweet is? Liking sweet is not a natural disposition. It is acquired or engineered. So something in the environment caused a condition for me to like sweet. Well, did my parents want to hurt me and hence gave me sweet? No! They were ignorant of the fact that sugar is addictive and bad for health. Strangely this ignorance not only hid the fact that sugar was bad, but also created a superimposition through the environment,that it was good. So let us now trace the chain of my pain.
Ignorance of bad effects of sugar > Superimposition that it is good> Creating a acquired taste of predisposition for sugar> Desire to eat sweets > Diabetes > Foot pain.
So the root cause of my foot pain was due to ignorance of ill effects of sugar. We can use a similar line of reasoning to trace back me throwing up blood, to the ignorance of the fact that smoking causes lung cancer resulting in throwing up blood.
We can use a similar chain to trace back, let's say fatigue. My fatigue is caused by me being constantly worried. My worry is caused by me thinking about my potential loss of promotion. My worry about promotion is because of my superimposed feeling that unless I have a BMW I cannot be happy and the promotion will make me get that. My feeling about a BMW as the need to improve my social standing and happiness is due to my ignorance of the fact that no material object can give me happiness.
All this is fine. We seem to be arriving at different sources of ignorance leading to different types of pains. What if there is a single source of all these sources of pains? Just as multiple rivers arise from the Himalayas, is there one single source of ignorance from which all the different sources of ignorance arise?
Readers of my blogs will know instantly what I am leading to. The single source of all "ignorances" is our ignorance of our true nature. What are we? We are the Absolute Consciousness, The Final Truth and the Immortal Serene Peace. Due to a quirk of the nature of this Supreme Bliss, ignorance covers us and we think we are the puny body-mind-intellect complex with a limited sphere of influence. This ignorance has given rise to each of the streams of ignorance leading to a complex set of pains in our daily life.
Suppose I knew smoking was bad for my health, would I smoke and end us as a cancer patient? So the "Knowing" is the most important thing to prevent ignorance and all its attendant ill effects. How would I know that smoking is bad? Hopefully I read health magazines, newspapers or listen to news, watch TV etc. So, the sources of true knowledge are many depending on one's interests. In the same way, to remove the ignorance of our true nature, there are many sources of knowledge. It could be the Upanishads in India, The Bible for the Christians etc. All scriptures ultimately reveal a man's true nature.
Just by reading that cancer is caused by smoking, I may or may not be convinced. I will probably validate this by asking knowledgeable people like doctors. I will probably listen to the stories told by cancer patients. So, in effect, after getting the knowledge, I may either totally trust the source or do my own independent validations. In the same way, after getting knowledge that the source of all my pain is due to ignorance as told in scriptures, I may either trust it fully or validate it by talking to spiritual teachers or by interacting with people who are calm and peaceful. Once the knowledge of cancer causing tobacco is validated, I will never smoke cigarettes and will not face the pain later. Similarly, once the knowledge of what causes my nature of ignorance is validated, I will not be ignorant and face potential pains in future.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please buy and read any of these books:
My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality
Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide
The Spirit of Spirituality
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