WHY DO WE SUFFER? WHAT ARE THE CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF HUMAN SUFFERING? SWAMI DESHIKATMANANDA, A MONK, IN CHARGE OF THE MEDICAL CENTRE OF RAM KRISHNA MISSION AND WRITER OF MANY ARTICLES ON SPIRITUAL ISSUES IN MANY INDIAN AND INTERNATIONAL NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES, SPEAKS ON HINDU RELIGION AND HUMAN SUFFERING.
Q. Why do we suffer? What does your religion say about it?
Ans. Suffering is a mental condition of an individual which is experienced through pain. All sufferings whether physical or mental are a result of your own Karma (actions). Hindu religion accepts a few concepts like the re-birth of the soul, the cycle of birth and death and the transmigration of soul, which ends in its liberation along with the theory of Karma which basically says that as you sow, so shall you reap. If you sow paddy, you get paddy and if you sow fruits, you get fruits. In simpler terms, it means that if you do good, you enjoy its benefits and if you do wrong, you suffer.
To explain the concept of suffering further, let me take an example. If you beat another, you are taken to the court of law and thereafter, if found guilty are punished by a judge who is legally authorized to do so. If a judge, being a human can punish you because he is authorized to punish, what about the all-pervading and all-powerful God? God too has the authority to punish your wrong doings and this punishment is experienced by you as sufferings.
Q. How does suffering make one a better human being?
Ans. There are endless examples of individuals who having suffered in their childhood due to various reasons like poverty, etc., have then got the right direction in life and made the most out of it. This has not only enabled them to build their own life but also encouraged them to help others in similar situations. For example, we have an orphanage in Chennai (a city in India), where our experience has been that those students who despite experiencing all the hardships were able to get educated and now occupy high posts are the ones who care the most about others. It’s only because they have themselves attained everything with great difficulties and therefore know what other orphan children may be going through. Similarly, people who have suffered from some disease and by God’s grace have recovered; try to help others because since having been through it all, they understand what is suffering. It is this very understanding and experience that inspires you to not only recover from your own suffering but also to help others to do so.
Q What is the relationship between desires, uncertainties and suffering?
Ans. Lord Buddha (God incarnated as per Buddhism; initially a prince named Siddhartha, who being moved by plight of the suffering ones left everything in search if truth) considered desires as the root cause of all sufferings. Suppose you have a desire to become a very rich man and that doesn’t happen or you have a desire to study well and become an engineer or an I A S officer (Top most official rank in Government of India) but you can’t make it in either of these exams, then your desires remain unfulfilled. Failure to fulfill desires leads to uncertainty and eventually causes frustration, suffering and psychosomatic problems. You can also say that desires, uncertainty and suffering are inter-related where in unfulfilled desires lead to uncertainty and encourage you to do something wrong, which in the long-run cause both physical and mental suffering to you and others.
But, does that mean you should not have any desires? No, if you try to achieve all you want after analyzing the ground situation, looking at your own capacity, having a whole hearted approach, working hard, moving rationally, being in the company of intellectual and intelligent friends, then desires inspire you to move forward, boost your morale, make you generous, bold, sincere, dedicated and give you the strength to face struggles. Thereafter, you will yourself find the ability to fulfill your desires.
Q Why have sufferings increased in the modern lifestyle?
Ans. The sufferings in modern life have increased because of greed, desire to possess more, competition, anxiety, tension and worries.
Q How do those who have faith in religion suffer less? Why does the present generation believe more in psychology than religion?
Ans. Since suffering is everywhere, religious people also suffer but faith in God and religion reduces the intensity of their suffering. As a spiritual person you know that it is your own good or bad Karma (actions) which are responsible for your sufferings and God being the compassionate that He is can re-write your Karma and redeem your soul. You also realize the power of prayers in reducing suffering.
The youth consider religion to be the cause of evil, fights in the society and other wars like the Greek War, Roman War, war between Christian and Islamic Nations and unfortunately have history as a proof to prove their point. They also regard religion as unscientific and superstitious. But, the great Hindu scholar, Swami Vivekanandawhile disagreeing to this viewpoint argues that religion and science are very similar. As per his views, while scientists quote Newton to explain the law of gravity since he discovered it, religious persons quote scriptures. saints and sages to explain that God exists and is all-pervading and all-powerful. But, the tragedy is that though the youth accepts the former without conducting any experiment or test, in case of the latter, they do not have the patience to study, practice and experiment what scriptures say though if they do so, they will realize that scriptures, saints and sages are correct.
Let me prove my point. Once a research scholar asked me, “Are Upnishads and Bhagwad Gita (Both Upnishads and Bhagwad Gita are religious texts of Hindu religion) pragmatic since practicing them hasn’t given me any benefit so far?” I asked him, “How many years did you study to get PHD?” “21 years,” he replied. Then I asked, “How many years have you been studying and practicing spirituality?” He couldn’t answer. So, it means, whoever says religion is wrong and superstitious has not practiced it because practicing religion and spirituality is a much longer process and few days, weeks and months are not sufficient to see its effects. If your practice is constant, you will surely reap the benefits from it in the long-run.
Q Why do the best people suffer at some stage of their life, like Mother Teresa in the end?
Ans. Irrespective of whether you are a good person or a bad one, you are covered under the theory ofKarma and therefore have to suffer according to your past actions. Even the best people, because of undergoing transmigration of the soul, the cycle of birth and death and the process of re-birth accumulate the effects of actions of their past lives and subsequently suffer their consequences.
Further, our Hindu religion explains that three kinds of actions affect our lives. They include Sanchita Karma, Kriyamana Karma and Prarabdha Karma.Sanchita Karma is the result of your good or bad actions accumulated in the seed form, which have not started affecting your life as yet. Kriyamana Karma is what is generating.Prarabdha Karma are the actions whose fruits, you are already enjoying. Here you have a perfect example of a hunter who has discharged an arrow which is traveling. His shooting of the arrow was Prarabdha Karma, whose fruits, he is already enjoying, the traveling of the arrow isKriyamana Karma and the good or bad final result of shooting the arrow and its consequences would be Sanchita Karma. Thus, everyone including the best people get affected by the acts of their past along with the present ones and suffer or enjoy their consequences.
Q What are the special and unique features in your religion which help to deal with sufferings?
Ans. Hindu religion not only accepts suffering but also provides the solution and the method to get over it. Our religion considers the body as a log of wood that can be cut into pieces, burnt into ashes and soaked into water. But according toBhagwad Gita, the real individual whether he is a sinner, an animal, a brute, a dacoit, a thief or a virtuous and a saintly person is the soul which cannot be subjected to all the above mentioned conditions and is beyond birth and death. We have forgotten this due to our ignorance and lack of self-consciousness.
You are not just the body; you are a soul by nature that is ever lasting, beyond death, has pure consciousness, infinite knowledge and everlasting bliss. Hindu religion also teaches to treat everyone equally since the same God who is all-pervading and runs the entire cosmos, resides among all of us. According to the understanding of our religion, when you realize your true nature and serve other human beings as if you would serve God, in order to reduce their sufferings, then your own sufferings also reduce and end.
Q How does helping others solve one’s problems?
Ans. Let us assume that it is raining and in such circumstances, someone comes to you and informs you that your friend is seriously ill. Now, if you think first about the rain, due to which you may get wet and subsequently catch cold or even fever, then you are a selfish man. Since as a selfish man you are only concerned about yourself and your family, you will be never inspired or motivated to help others.
But in the very same circumstances, if you are a selfless man, you would not only run to see your friend but also serve him in his sickness by calling the doctor and giving medicine, etc. This attitude of service that too without expecting anything in return would not only give you a great amount of satisfaction but also ease your own problems. It will also make you realize that all sufferings are momentary and you will get over them someday. Your own sufferings help you become a generous and broad-minded person and then you consider the problems of others as your own. Once you think this way, you start understanding the problems of others and this by itself gives you the experience and knowledge to understand and solve your own problems.
Q. Will the faith in religion end if there is no suffering?
Ans. Suffering and religion are not connected since religion has always existed irrespective of suffering. This is especially true about the Hindu religion which was founded by the great sages through their super conscious state of mind, their knowledge and experience and has no substitute. The fact that only those who suffer have faith in religion also does not hold good because if it is so then suffering becomes the main reason for having faith in God. On the contrary, it has been seen that those who suffer from some disease rather loose faith in God and people having no suffering have this faith.
Whenever you pray and your wishes come true, you develop faith in God. I met a Christian lady, wife of a pediatric doctor, who prayed for something to Lord Vekateshwara (a Hindu God worshipped mainly in South India) at Tirupati (a city in South India) and when her wishes came true, she offered prayers, money and other items to the deity. She felt that Lord Venkateshwara is real, special and all-powerful. Thus, it is not faith in religion but faith in God, which can develop anywhere, anytime and will always exist.
Q. How can one get rid of sufferings?
Ans. There are a few methods to get over sufferings. The self-consciousness which makes you realize that you are not a body but a soul, which is beyond birth and death, is very helpful. Here is a very good example. When Alexander came to India, he met a sage whom Alexander asked to accompany him. When the sage refused, Alexander got very angry and even threatened to kill him. At this, the sage started laughing and said, “You can neither hurt me nor kill me. You can only harm this body but I am a spirit or a soul.” So, even while facing death, the consciousness that I am a spirit or a soul, beyond birth and death, gives you a lot of power and makes you fearless.
Another very important method to get rid of suffering is detachment. A tender coconut that consists of the fiber, the shell, the kernel and the water respectively is a perfect example to explain detachment. As the coconut gets mature and dry, the water evaporates and all other parts get detached from each other. Similarly, when you focus on spirituality, you start detaching from body and material belongings and as and when this process is complete, your sufferings reduce and end.
Q Does suffering encourage people to hurt others?
Ans. The mind is responsible for this action and reaction process. If someone says or does something wrong to you, you become angry to the extent that you start abusing, scolding and quarrelling. This nature is mainly due to the mental set-up of an individual. Therefore, Hindu religion teaches to control the mind, which is responsible for bondage, liberation, behavior, actions and achievements of an individual. Mind control is possible through Yoga (a particular kind of exercise practiced by people in ancient India to keep themselves fit and for Union with the self or Atman), including Yama Niyama (certain practices to be followed in order to get to the state of yoga), Pranayama (control of breathe), Dhayana (meditation), moral and ethical practices like Satya (truth), Ahimsa (attitude of non-injury), Socha (capacity to think) Tapas, Vishwa Paridhana, Brahmacharya (to walk in the path of Brahman), Pratyahara (a kind of spiritual practice to get to yoga),scripture studies and righteous practices. Ironically, though everyone teaches the children not to steal, not to tell a lie, or not to hurt others but no one teaches them to control the mind whereas according to my opinion, this action and reaction process can only stop when you have control over your mind and can resist any kind of provocations by others.
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