The Cause of Suffering and How to Remove it

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali describe that the cause of all suffering is ignorance of the Self. Therefore, you don't have to figure out in each situation what the cause is. The human being has to suffer when life events are disturbing to the system, such as relationship and financial problems, health issues, and the loss of a loved one. This talk and meditation will lead you to remember the Self that is always uninvolved with the suffering of the body and mind and is forever pure and free!

Transcript

Satsang Podcast with Sri The Cause of Suffering and How to Remove It The human condition is such that a person experiences happiness,

Unhappiness,

Sadness,

Joy and a whole array of emotions in between.

This is the human condition,

This is how the human being functions.

If things go according to the desires,

Then there's happiness.

If things don't go according to their preferences,

Then depending on the degree of need to fulfill that desire,

There will be unhappiness,

Sadness or depression.

However,

As we've all noticed in our lives,

These emotions or emotional reactions to situations and things,

Success,

Failure,

Gain and loss,

They're not under our conscious control.

Because a situation might happen and your mind might be aware or you might be aware that you don't want to suffer,

You don't want to experience sadness,

You don't want to experience the pain of grief,

You don't want to experience depression and not be able to function,

But the system just reacts that way.

And without even your awareness of what is happening,

You will be a victim to however the system reacts.

So now,

As the yogi,

As the meditator,

We've begun to analyze what is happening in the system.

And we know now that the system is made up of the three gunas,

The three qualities that are constantly moving and are very different from each other.

They don't really mix that well,

But there's always a mixture of them going on.

The three gunas,

If you haven't studied this before in Patanjali or if you need a refresher to it,

Are rajas,

Which is activity,

Motion,

Tamas,

Which is inertia,

Steadfastness,

And sattva,

Which is balance or light.

And as we can see,

You need enough rajas to wake up in the morning,

To function in your daily affairs.

You need enough tamas or sense of being not totally active all the time so that you can go to sleep at night and that you can relax sometimes.

And these are constantly fluctuating.

There's a system of Ayurvedic medicine that also is based on balancing these gunas,

Or in that system they're called doshas,

That are inherent in the human system.

And there's enough sattva so that you can relax.

You can experience happiness,

Joy.

However,

If you're just a victim to these three gunas,

When there's sattva,

You'll feel happy,

You'll feel peaceful.

When there's rajas,

You'll feel pain,

Anxiety,

Based on never being able to fully get everything that you want.

And when there's tamas,

You'll feel a sense of attachment,

Obsession.

You'll feel the pain that comes from inactivity,

Unable to make a decision.

So the whole yogic system then is based on balancing these three gunas because we want to have more sattva,

More lightness of being,

And less of the rajas and tamas.

The important point here and why I'm bringing up these gunas is not for an intellectual understanding,

But I know if you're anything like me,

You wonder why you've been doing your sadhana,

You've been doing your meditation,

And yet still some days you wake up feeling heavy,

Lethargic,

Not with a very positive attitude about the day.

And other days you wake up feeling bright,

Full of life,

Full of interest,

Excited to live out the day.

And other days it might be somewhat neutral.

Now you haven't made a conscious decision to wake up and feel bad.

You haven't made a conscious decision to wake up and feel good.

So we can see from this that the human system is a victim to the changes in the system.

Now there's so many factors that go into how the system is functioning.

If you overate the night before,

You might have more tamas.

If a good friend is coming that you haven't seen in a long time,

You might wake up just excited and all the rajas of excitement might be there,

But yet there's a sattva,

There's a sense of fulfillment of your desire to see your friend.

So the system,

The thoughts,

The emotions,

That occur in the system,

Based on your mental functioning,

Because as we know,

In deep sleep there's no sense of rajas,

Tamas or sattva,

There's just evenness.

In the yogic system it's called one sustained thought of nothing.

So it's still a mental state,

The deep sleep,

But there's nothingness.

And in that nothingness there's a sense of that you can have freedom,

You can have peace,

Regardless of what's going on in your life.

This is to be noted because many people forget this important point.

They just experience whatever's happening in the waking state and make that the reality and forget that every night you're in deep sleep.

And in deep sleep you're just fine,

No matter how much pain and suffering is going on in your life.

And when you're dreaming,

There's a whole other reality of dream figures that you believe at that time are real,

And you're either happy or unhappy,

Suffering or not suffering,

Anxious or worried,

Or joyful,

And there's a whole other world going on based on your mind in the dream state.

So then why make the waking state the only reality?

It's only half of your day,

Or three quarters of your day,

Because every night,

Six to eight hours,

You're asleep.

So we analyze this now with awareness,

Not to analyze what's happening in all these states.

That would be an unending process of trying to find cause and effect.

Instead of that,

We analyze that when there's mind,

There's suffering or joy,

Whether it's mind in the dream or whether it's mind in the waking state.

When there's sattva,

Balance,

Light,

Knowledge of the self,

There's peace,

Which we find in meditation,

In the meditative awareness.

So now,

Rather than being a victim to the suffering that's going on based on the three gunas and their interplay and their incompatibility with each other,

We begin to bring our attention to the one who's knowing,

The very knower of the body,

Of the mind,

Of the senses,

Of the emotions,

Of the experiences.

So we're not trying to figure them all out,

Because again,

That would be a monumental task that would never come to an end,

Because it's unlimited,

It's infinite,

The field of mind is infinite.

Instead,

We bring the attention to the knower.

Who is it that's knowing the body is reacting like this?

So immediately,

Through that awareness,

We're bringing the attention to that one who knows,

To that one who is free.

So it is said in the scriptures that there's only one cause of suffering,

Which means you don't have to figure out,

Why am I suffering?

What is the cause that's bringing about this effect?

In psychology,

You might figure out a cause,

Your mother did this,

Your father did this,

You had this trauma or that trauma,

And now you feel good for some time that you figured it out and you can relax,

But whatever that cause was will happen again,

And then there'll be more suffering,

Or could happen again,

And then there'll be more suffering,

Or something else will happen and there'll be more suffering if you're on the level of cause and effect.

But now,

We're taking a quantum leap out of the level of cause and effect,

Out of the level of waking state human being,

Into the fourth state,

The higher state of consciousness,

The very knower that's forever present,

The one who puts you into waking state,

Who puts you into deep sleep state,

Who puts you into dream state.

You didn't do that.

You didn't tell yourself,

Okay,

I'm going to sleep now and all of a sudden,

Bang,

Sleep.

How many times have you wanted to go to sleep and sleep didn't come?

You didn't tell yourself,

I'm going to wake up at this time,

And then you wake up right at the time you say.

I mean,

That can happen because you're programming your mind to do that,

But who is it that woke you up?

Are there some days you wake up at this time,

Some days you wake up at that time?

Who is it that puts you into the bad dream that you didn't want to have?

Wasn't your choice to have that bad dream?

It wasn't your choice to wake up feeling bad in the morning.

It's always our choice to want to feel peaceful,

Free,

Happy,

Blissful.

Of course.

Why is that?

We must know that it's possible.

Otherwise,

How could we want it?

And that's true.

We know it's possible because it is the very knower.

It is our own true nature.

It's forever blissful,

Forever peaceful,

Regardless of what's happening in the physical system.

However,

Because the training has been to believe the physical system,

When the interplay of these gunas occur,

And all of a sudden you're anxious,

Worried about some situation,

How will I deal with this?

What will I do about this?

When the worry takes over,

The rajas,

The tamas takes over,

And you're distraught,

Now it seems out of your control because these gunas,

The interplay of the gunas,

Are very,

Very powerful.

They bring about rag and dvesh,

Attachment to happiness and aversion to any kind of suffering,

Any kind of negative experience.

And as long as you're on the field of rag and dvesh,

This will have to occur.

So as long as there's avidya,

Or ignorance of your true self,

Then there's asmita,

There's a sense of I am this body,

Living in a world of other bodies and other forms,

And then you're a victim to whatever reactions happen in your physical system.

Sattva,

You feel good.

Rajas,

You feel anxious.

Tamas,

You feel dull.

You feel depressed.

You feel unhappy.

This is how the system keeps functioning.

And how to get out of it when it's not in your control?

Huh?

That's the important part here,

How to get free from suffering,

How to remove it,

As the title of this podcast says.

The mind will tell you all kinds of ways to remove your suffering.

I need to exercise more.

I need to lose weight.

I need to relax more.

I need to find another job.

I need to find a better lover.

I need to get rid of this relationship.

I need to move on.

I need to not keep dwelling on this.

Those are all functions of the mind,

And the mind will keep doing that.

That's what the mind does.

It's not your fault.

But you can't be in the water and not get wet.

You can't live in the waking state of consciousness and not suffer.

It's not possible,

Because the waking state equals mind,

Equals vritti,

Equals suffering.

So the way out to remove the suffering is not to live in the waking state of consciousness,

Not to believe it,

Just because your body is saying,

I'm happy or I'm unhappy,

Or I have this emotion or I have that emotion,

And I have to get rid of this,

And I have to achieve that.

Just because all that's going on in your physical system,

You can know that it's not you.

You are the very knower.

You're the one who's able to watch that.

Now as soon as you make that shift,

As soon as you make that noticeable shift to the knower,

And you can get there by using the mantra,

Amaram ham madhuram ham,

Amaram ham madhuram ham,

Guaranteed,

If you're going through some emotional reaction in your body,

Some suffering,

If you sit for an hour and repeat amaram ham madhuram ham,

You can use a mala touching each bead to remind you to repeat amaram ham,

Next bead madhuram ham,

Amaram ham madhuram ham.

Whatever pain and suffering is going on in your system,

You will create sattva.

So you will balance those gunas just from repeating the truth of who you are.

I am immortal.

I am blissful.

But you have to do the work.

You have to do the practice.

Amaram ham madhuram ham brings your attention now to that knower that is forever immortal and blissful.

And because the system is reacting and because you don't have any power over your system to change its reactions at will by arranging everything the way you think you need it,

Getting this person to talk to you,

To have a discussion with that person,

And work it out on this level or that level,

All these things are good and they will continue.

But you,

Your freedom,

Can be right now,

Not based on some future time when things go the way that you'd like,

Or if you achieve that or don't achieve this,

Or get rid of this,

Or buy this.

Those things are all wonderful.

They're the human existence.

But if you're the victim to it,

Then you're a victim.

If you're the master,

You are immediately free.

So immediately we have to go to the master consciousness.

And that means not identifying with the waking state,

Not identifying that you are an individual suffering or joyful based on your life experiences.

Instead,

You bring the attention immediately to who you truly are,

Knowledge of your true self.

Then all the other kleshas,

All the other troubles,

Avidya,

Knowledge of the self,

Is the ground where all the other kleshas exist.

Asmita,

Ayahs separate.

Raag,

Attachment to that which causes sukh or happiness.

And dvesh,

Aversion to dukkha or unhappiness.

Abhinivesh,

Which is a big one.

Fear of death,

Fear of loss of your physical body and all the joys and people that you love to experience around you or that need you.

Then we know that any time these kleshas,

These troubles arise,

The system acts that way.

It's not your fault.

This is a very important point because the practicing meditator might get very down on themselves.

I was doing so well,

The mind will tell you.

I was just in that bliss of the self and then all of a sudden this happened or this thought came and now I'm suffering again.

What's wrong with me?

Why can't I just continue to live that bliss of the self and not become a victim again to the mind?

This is the plight of the practicing meditator.

Something wrong because that's what the mind does.

It wants to create that satisfaction through the mind.

But the mind is not capable of being satisfied all the time.

The knower is forever satisfied.

The pure being doesn't need to have anything to change to know its own source,

To know its own satisfaction.

But the mind can't do it.

So the shift has to come.

And that's why we keep listening and keep practicing because now the samadhi,

That evenness of being,

The sattva that you are,

That all this is,

Will penetrate all the other states of consciousness because there really are no other states of consciousness.

There really is no deep sleep,

Dream state and waking state.

It's really all you,

That fourth state.

So when the attention goes to the knower,

Knower alone is,

Self alone is.

And you've always been that self.

And then you're not bound to be a victim to the changes that are going on in the system because you are unchanging.

You are forever that.

Nothing has changed for you.

But to be established in who you truly are takes constant repetition.

Amaram ham madhuram ham.

I am immortal.

I am blissful.

Constant practice of bringing your attention right in this moment.

Not the practice that someday you'll get it because that's another trap.

The practice is right now I am immortal.

I am blissful.

I am pure,

Free forever.

That says it all.

And when again you become victim to your system,

You treat it that nothing's wrong because that's the way the system functions.

And you are forever free.

Whether your mind is telling you you're bound,

Whether your mind is telling you that there's a problem and until this problem is solved I'm going to be unhappy,

Whether your mind is telling you that some future date in your plan you'll be happy,

No matter what your mind is telling you,

You know that the mind is not really there.

You are the self.

The mind is an instrument that you use to perceive the world and you don't have to get caught up in your instrument.

You can go into your car and drive your car,

But when your car fails,

You haven't failed.

When your car runs out of gas,

You haven't run out of gas.

You are not your car.

You are the self.

And you drive your car,

You take care of your car to the best of your ability,

To make it healthy,

To create more sattva through good diet and exercise.

But if you don't live up to your ideals,

It's okay because you've never been your car.

You are forever pure.

You are forever true.

And the dreams of this world can never touch you.

It's a beautiful song called Madhalsa's song.

Madhalsa sang it to all of her children and they realized that self just by hearing.

Shado Si Bu Do Si Ni Ran Janau Si Samsara Maya Parivar Jito Si Sansara Swapanam Tyajamohanidram Najam Amrit Yor Tvayasat Swaroopay You are forever pure.

You are forever true.

And the dreams of this world can never touch you.

So give up your attachments and give up your confusion and fly in this space that's beyond all illusion.

So listening to these words,

You are forever pure.

You are forever true.

And this dream of the world can never touch you.

So give up or remove all confusion.

Give up or remove all delusion and fly in your space that's beyond all confusion.

That is who you truly are right now,

Pure,

Free,

Forever the same.

Om Shanti.

Peace.