DUKH DAAROO -
Suffering Is The Medicine

Suffering is the medicine, and pleasure the disease, because where
there is pleasure, there is no desire for God. You are the Creator; I
can do nothing. Even if I try, nothing happens. I am a sacrifice to Your
almighty creative power which is pervading everywhere. Your limits
cannot be known. Your Light is in Your creatures, and Your creatures
are in Your Light; Your almighty power is pervading everywhere. You
are the True Lord; Your Praise is so beautiful. One who sings it,
is carried across. Nanak speaks the stories of the Creator;
whatever He is to do, He does (sggs 469).
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"Suffering is the medicine" is the edict of the Gurbani. How can suffering (Dukh or Dukha) be the medicine (Daaroo)? We are further told by the Gurbani that: "Pleasure is the disease"! How can pleasure (Sukh or Sukha) be the disease—suffering? What a paradox! To an ordinary person full of desires, fears, agitation, excitements, passion, unkindness, animal-nature, and so on, such scriptural statements may indeed sound paradoxical. However, their mystic meaning, subtler in import and graver in suggestion, can be grasped if we try to think with a cool (Sahaj) mind.

As repeatedly mentioned in the scriptures, man's psychological ego (Haume) is his chronicle disease, the cause of all his Dukha, mental and physical. And if we can give it up, there will be no grief and suffering! What is this psychological ego? It is simply accepting the body-mind-intellect as Immortal Soul. When one comes to fully understand that he is not this body-apparatus and is the Eternal Self, then he comes to his Real Ego. The Real Ego, Pure Consciousness, is untouched by the pair of opposites such as Dukha and Sukha, and so on. It is the pseudosoul or false ego that suffers the consequences of deluded mentality (Haume) that we cultivate for ourselves. When sun rays get refracted at the prism, the colors are perceived. Similarly, when Pure Consciousness gets refracted at the prism of false ego-center, the duality or the sense of distinction and separation is perceived. Which, in turn, gives rise to a perceiver of objects, a feeler of emotions and a thinker of thoughts. In other words, when the Unconditioned Consciousness looks out upon Itself through the spectacles of Its own matter-envelopments, It identifies with the limited and becomes the pain-pleasure man. Pain and pleasure are of the deluded mind ( psychological ego-center): nothing created by God is responsible for either. What gives one Sukha may give someone else Dukha. Also, what gives Sukha in one situation may give Dukha at another, depending upon the context in which one has it. Thus, by the working of the human mind, the same object appears as a source of pain or pleasure to different persons and in different contexts. Therefore, it can be said that Sukha and Dukha are the same feeling but the difference is in the point of view from which we look at it. The bottom line is: if one gets what he craves for, he feels Sukha. To the contrary, if he does not get what he craves for, he gets frustrated and feels Dukha. Thus, bewildered by wrong ideas, our mind with its false ego-center desires gains and fears loss; experiencing Dukha and Sukha in the process. If we look at ourselves in our moments of Sukha or Dukha, we will consistently observe that it is not the object in itself that is Sukha-giving or Dukha-giving, but the circumstance and condition of which it is a part. In other words, if the situation is acceptable, we feel pleased. To the contrary, if the situation is unacceptable, we suffer.

Now, first, let's try to understand why pleasure (Sukha) is said to be the disease. The Realized Beings and the scriptures tell us that pleasure puts us to sleep — it makes us forget our True Nature as Unconditioned Consciousness. Pleasure thus kills the Spirit per se, not to mention the body. As told in the scriptures, we are nothing but "Joti Savroop", the Pure Self, which is free from pain and pleasure. However, pleasure deludes us away from this Truth, causing separation where there is none.

While intoxicated with mundane pleasures, we care less about the Spiritual matters. For example, when inflicted with Dukha (a serious illness, economical or legal problems, etc.), we start showing up at religious places begging for relief. Once the problem goes away, our religious mood also disappears like horn of a donkey! Sukha, thus, creates separateness between man and his Real Source. Consequently, it paves the way to Dukha. In other words, in every Sukha there is Dukha disguised.

The scriptures and the Men of Light roar that the world and its gross objects can only give us fleeting pleasure, not Happiness. Because, the true Happiness flows from within. In other words, Self-realization is the true Happiness. In the absence of Self-realization it's all Dukha! Still, surprisingly, man's all efforts are aimed at securing nothing but material pleasures!

Thus, as indicated in the Gurbani, all material pleasures end in pain. But due to perverted understanding, we are unable to grasp this Truth. Why do scriptures claim that experiences which are apparently pleasurable are ultimately states of Dukha? What we perceive as a state of pleasure is nothing more than a form of relief in comparison to painful experiences. Hence the pleasurable status is only relative. As we know it, everything around us keeps changing on a constant basis. Nothing ever stays permanent. Even our mind renews itself every instant. Accordingly, any happiness experienced from material objects is also changeable, hence impermanent. Everything being in the frame work of time-space has a beginning and an end, so does pleasure. Accordingly, at the end of pleasure there rises Dukha. Therefore, all sentient beings are said to be bound by these two.

As made clear by the Gurbani, Dukha is the price of Sukha; for every Sukha ends in Dukha. It is our unending search for worldly pleasures which makes us suffer; bodily as well as mentally. All suffering is born of desires, and desires prompt us to perform volitional or selfish actions, resulting in rejection (pain) or acquisition (pleasure). How can Dukha be the medicine? If Sukha puts us to deep sleep of illusion, Dukha awakens us! It makes us patient and humble and takes us closer to the Supreme Truth; the source of real Happiness or Bliss. It is the messenger to remember God. It is our reformer and benefactor in disguise—the "Dandaa" (stick) of the Eternal Law of Karma. To put it otherwise, every Dukha that enters our body and mind pulls us towards Bliss Absolute. For example, if we look at ourselves in our moments of Dukha, we will invariably find that we not only think of God a lot during those moments, but also do so with more intensity and faith! Dukha thus revive the Divine Consciousness dormant in us. Hence the recognition that the state of our unenlightened existence is suffering acts as catalyst of the Spiritual quest. In short, Dukha pulls us towards God, and thus His Divine Name becomes medicine for all our ailments! Therefore, Dukha is preferable if it is a step towards fulfilling the life's Higher Goal—Realization of the Self. In the process, Dukha may destroy the physical body but it certainly glorifies the Self! Sincere devotees, accordingly, accept suffering as God's blessing in disguise, for they reason that their suffering will increase their Devotion (Bhagti) and bring them ultimate Spiritual Realization. Why are sentient beings in a state of Sansaar (place of repeated birth and death) or suffering? The scriptures have diagnosed the actual disease of the conditioned beings, and found that our suffering is due to our attachment to material things. Under the control of ignorance or negative Karma, delusion, afflictive emotions and thoughts, we are tightly tied or bonded to the world of gross objects. This is our present state, the unenlightened existence, encased in the snare of false ego and self-grasping, tossed around aimlessly by the waves of fluctuating painful experiences.

Once this truth that the "whole world is suffering" is understood, one will find the urge and energy to awaken the Spiritual Center within to go beyond suffering. In other words, if we recognize and accept our present state as Dukha, unsatisfactoriness, unhappiness, painful experiences and frustration, only then we will wish to look into the causes and conditions that give rise to it.

For example, if a sick person wishes to get well, the first step is that he must recognize that he is ill, otherwise the urge to be cured will not arise. The reason scriptures laid so much emphasis on recognizing the state of suffering we are in, as well developing insight into the nature of it, is that there is a way out! This is very strongly demonstrated by the lives of many Enlightened Beings. For example, it is said that when Buddha caught sight of a sick person, an old person and a dead person, the impact of seeing this suffering led him to search for cure.

If the dependence on conditions and situations is the cause of Dukha, then independence from them must be the cure. We are urged by the Gurbani to change Dukha into Sukha and fear into fearlessness. Those who remain patient, steadfast, and unshaken in Spirit throughout the periods of adversities and comforts are called the people of Truth. Both Dukha and Sukha are like waves on the surface of the ocean of the Self. However, deep down this Ocean is calm—Blissful. In other words, both Dukha and Sukha are transient, our Real Self is not. When we transfer our sense of identity to our true Being, the Real Self, we realize that all Dukha is unreal. Then we no longer imagine the state of pain and fear. We think or search in order to escape from Dukha. But, in fact, our very deluded thinking or searching gives rise to it! The state of Pure Happiness is outside of the false ego's realm. Deluded mind (ignorance, false ego, duality, Maya, conditioning, and so on) is the cause of our suffering, and the concentrated or purified mind is the liberation from it. What is that medicine which will satisfy the ego-mind? The Gurbani says: "Through the mind itself, the mind is subdued" because "ego is a chronic disease, but it contains its own cure as well". How can such attitude be developed? "By seeing both the Dukha and Sukha as one and the same" and "making the mind die in the Divine Name"; says the Gurbani. In other words, Shabad-Surti or God-consciousness is the only medicine for our suffering. Therefore, we must take it and be eternally happy. Haume gradually runs away from the mind engaged in deep meditation (Jap or Naam-Simran). Beyond Haume there is no suffering; because the Spirit Soul is Transcendental to all Dukha. Suffering lasts as long we take ourselves of a limited form or relative consciousness. The moment one realizes his "Joti Savroop", duality disappears (Dukha and Sukha, and so on). In other words, the moment one transcends the erroneous idea of separateness from the Self, he knows that the true Self is eternally free of any pairs of opposites. After the true Self is rediscovered, one sees everything existing in Pure Being; nothing besides Him. The essence of a person fully attuned to the Divine Name sees Dukha and Sukha both the same, and thus accepts the life in its totality as it comes (Hukam Mannanaa). He does not suffer because he is friendly with inevitables. He may be aware of Dukha, but he does not allow it to shatter him — he lets things take their course because he accepts suffering as "medicine". He takes Dukha as precious gift from God for there are many secrets in it! Such acceptance of Dukha takes the earnest seeker into his Inner Being than any material pleasure can. Suffering all sorts of unavoidable misfortunes—which are sure to happen in all circumstances—a pious person remains undisturbed by worldly calamities and makes progress in Spiritual Realization, because that is the mission of human life. The intuitive Realization of the Gurbani (or any other genuine scripture for that matter) is the fulfillment of the path of right thinking, right understanding and deep meditation (Jap or Naam-Simran). Linking to our True Nature, thus, is the art of Self-liberation through Self-understanding.

— T. Singh
www.gurbani.org

To read Gurbani verses in Gurmukhi, click here to download Gurmukhi font.

Updated on Monday, September 22, 2008 5:17 PM (PST)

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