viShAdaM (grief) - some thoughts on its usefulness

[Guest guest]

namaste.

 

If a human is happy with his/her circumstances and life, then

he/she would find no reason to look for higher objectives.

[Here, what I mean by happy is the happiness at the present state

of life, this happiness having an opposite, the sorrow or grief.

This happiness is not the same as bliss, which is permanent and

has no opposite]. Such human in happiness would not have occasion

or reason to think of God or spiritual matters. On the other hand,

if a person is unhappy with present life, then thoughts like

(a) is there a better life than what I am leading?, (b) How do

I attain that lefe ? will arise. From such sorrow, inquisition

begins. Therefore, for investigating thoughts like (a) what is

svadharma?, (b) what is Atman?, © what am I?, it seems sorrow

or grief is the beginning point. Buddha's enlightenment started

with sorrow. Being in sorrow, we can understand the world matters

better, and discrimination between what is real and what is unreal

(viveka) arises. Further, if we are in sorrow, our heart will be

more tender and we will become more responsive to others'

difficulties.

 

One example of the usefulness of sorrow is Arjuna viShAdayoga.

Because Arjuna had this grief associated with the thought of

having to kill relatives and friends, he found himself to be

associated with a guru who taught him bhagavadgItA and cleared

the doubts. The downside of sorrow is: one can wallow in it with

self-pity and loose the usefulness of life altogether.

 

But, quite often, sorrow or grief can propel the person to higher

spiritual levels.

 

Regards

Gummuluru Murthy

---

[Guest guest]

namaste,

 

For an insightful discusion of 'incentives to spiritual life', two

invaluable references are Prof. Ranade's books:

 

Pathway to God in Hindi Literature 1986, 2nd ed.,publ. Ranade Samadhi

 

pp.1-47 Trust

 

Pathway to God in Kannada Literature 1989 3rd ed., Bharatiya Vidya

 

pp. 13-32 Bhavan

 

Among several, he mentions:

 

1. Wonder and awe at the Architect of Creation

2. Betterment of life/achievement of an ideal

3. Evanescence of experiences

4. Feeling deceived by the senses

5. Suffering

6. Helplessness in life's experiences

7. Inscrutability of fate

8. Sense of sinfulness

9. Old age and death

etc.

 

He gives numerous examples of the poetic compositions of the leading

saint-poets of these languages.

 

He then goes on to discuss how these incentives mature to preparation

for a spiritual life.

 

Regards,

 

sunder

 

 

 

 

 

 

>Gummuluru Murthy <gmurthy

>advaitin

>advaitin

> viShAdaM (grief) - some thoughts on its usefulness

>Wed, 23 Feb 2000 10:11:42 -0330 (NST)

>

>

>But, quite often, sorrow or grief can propel the person to higher

>spiritual levels.

>

>Regards

>Gummuluru Murthy

>---

>

>

>

 

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