Pain Must Have A Stop

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And also the Brihadaranyaka Upanisad states:

 

`If a man knows the Self as " I am this (Self) " , then desiring what

and for whose sake will he suffer in the wake of the body?'4

 

One may ask, `If the sufferings affect the three bodies and not the

Self, then is it a matter of stoically bearing the pains or do the

pains actually disappear?' The answer is that in some cases the pains

disappear or are no longer cognised and in other cases - especially

those of the bhaktas whose mind is totally given up to God - pains

may be transformed into joy, as in the instances of some religious

martyrs. For example, Blanche Gamond tells of a torture experience:

 

" ... I was naked from the waist up. They brought a cord with which

they tied me to a beam in the kitchen ...then they discharged their

fury upon me, exclaiming as they struck me, `Pray now to your

God' ... but at this moment I received the greatest consolation that

I ever received in my life, since I had the honour of being whipped

for the name of Christ, and in addition of being crowned with his

mercy and consolations. Why can I not write down the inconceivable

influences, consolations, and peace which I felt interiorly? To

understand them one must pass through the same trial; they were so

great that I was ravished, for there where afflictions abound grace

is given super-abundantly. In vain the women cried, `We must double

our blows; she does not feel them, for she neither speaks nor cries.'

And how should I have cried, since I was swooning with happiness

within? " 5

 

The first method discussed here - that of the jnani - is illustrated

by the case of Swami Shivananda, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna

and the second president of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission. Toward

the last years of his life his body was racked with several kinds of

ailments so that he could walk only a few steps at a time. Yet when

he was asked, `How are you Maharaj?' He would reply, `I am fine'. On

being further told that his body seemed to be in bad condition, he

would reply, `Oh, you are asking about the body? The body is not at

all well, but I am fine. Talking about God with people ... I am in

excellent spirits ... pain and anguish belong to the body. He who

dwells within the body is not affected by them - He is Bliss itself.

I am not the body. I am that Eternal Supreme Being, ever pure,

illumined and free. The Master has given me that knowledge in the

fullest measure. That is why it does not make any difference whether

the body is well, or sick or old.'6

 

Thus, any given experience can be painful to one, indifferent to

another and joyous to a third, depending on how much spiritual

knowledge and/or love of God has been attained. Vrttis - waves in the

mind - are like reflecting surfaces for the soul and are of three

kinds: tamasic, rajasic and sattvic. In the first the reflection is

most obscured and the image is barely seen. In the second the

reflection is clearer but the image is distorted so that we mistake

it for what it is not. In the third, the sattvic, the reflection is

clear so that we see the image properly, but it is at best a

reflected image and not the Real thing (svarupa). The wise man

recognises these as reflected images in his mind and is not deceived

by them. He knows that they have no relation to him and belong only

to nature. Therefore, whatever their condition, he is free from their

effects. Having withdrawn his consciousness from all the vrttis, the

reflections disappear and merge into their source, the Divine Self.

There remains no one to experience pain, for the Self is only Joy.

 

Dehabhimane galite, vijnate paramatmani

 

Yatra yatra mano yati tatra tatra samadhyah.

 

With the disappearance of attachment to the body and with the

realisation of the Supreme Self, to whatever object the mind is

directed one experiences samadhi.