THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM
The most frightening thing in the world is Pain.
All living beings are afraid of one thing, and that is pain. If you look deeply, you will find that people don't fear even death as much as they fear the pain and agony they will have to undergo at the time of death.
Many are afraid of poverty, some of relationships, still others fear disease – but the root cause of all these fears is Pain. All the fears of man culminate in the fear of pain. And that's why people will endure even a major disease which doesn't cause pain – but rarely can we ignore a simple headache!
What is Pain? Let us explore the subject deeply. Pain can be physical, mental or emotional.
Physical pain is the least of our worries! It is, in a way, a basic necessity for the body. Just imagine, if we could feel no pain, we might start styling our faces and limbs the way we style our hair today! We certainly can't put it past today's youngsters! But jokes apart, pain is the symbol of bodily wisdom. Pain is what makes us integrated human beings.
Contrary to what we believe, most of us are not 'living' with our entire body. We 'live' only in the upper parts, neglecting the lower ones. To understand me better, just try this: close your eyes and imagine yourself, your being. Call your name. Which part of your body is being called to mind? It would most definitely be your face and upper limbs, certainly not the lower body parts. This shows that we are not fully alive in every cell, every limb. Even in our minds, we make this distinction. The upper limbs are the masters, the lower limbs the servants. When you create this separation, even unknowingly, your energy or life force is channeled only to those body parts that you focus on. Just touch your cheek. Doesn't it feel sensitive, alive? Now touch your foot. Does it feel the same? Notice that you are not as alive in your foot as in your cheek. Why is that? Though hard to believe, it is due to your lack of attention to that part.
Can the mind control Pain?
On the emotional and mental level, pain is usually the result of some form of judgement. Pain is always, ALWAYS born of resistance to the present moment. Significantly, every time you experience pain, it leaves behind a residue of pain which becomes lodged in the body. By and by, this accumulated pain creates a negative energy field around you, which we now call the Pain Body. The Pain Body is responsible for, and controls, most of our pain patterns.
Research reveals that emotional imbalance can deeply disturb the physical body. For example, sexual repression can result in back pain, or the sense of shouldering too much responsibility can cause pain in the shoulder. e.g. in a crowded bus you may be packed with people of all kinds. But your being will not be touching them - your mind, your consciousness will not allow that. So your being will be shrinking deeper into yourself instead. This is the problem.
A small story:
In Calcutta there are two small ashrams whose presidents are not on good terms with each other. One day a person of some authority arrives in one ashram and invites the president to join him in visiting the other ashram. The president is in distress – he cannot refuse, but he doesn't want to go either. Suddenly the president develops a high fever which prevents him from leaving the place! I have seen this with my own eyes. As soon as the other person left, the temperature came back to normal again. Haven't we all experienced Monday Morning Blues? Even children display bodily symptoms of illness when forced to do what they don't want. This kind of illness is caused simply by Un-Ease, by the mind and the body pulling you in opposite directions. Thus you are not at ease with yourself – this dis-ease is what is called Disease.
The other day, a handsome young man belonging to an orthodox family was brought to our healing center. His complaint was - sudden blindness! His parents started weeping and told me that the boy was in excellent health, and turned blind just a week ago. All medical tests revealed perfect vision – but he couldn't see!
After scanning his energy I asked to spend a few moments alone with him. As soon as he was allowed to talk to me in private, the boy poured out his troubles to me. He said that he was deeply in love with a girl, but had been forced by his parents to stop seeing her. I immediately figured out the root cause of the problem. I asked the boy to procure a photograph of the girl, and spend the next three days meditating upon it continuously. His parents were taken aback at this unconventional solution, that too from a spiritual man! But the technique worked, for in 3 days the man regained his vision perfectly.
Why did this happen?
When the boy was compelled not to see what he most wanted to see, his consciousness decided not to see anything at all. His blindness was deeply psychological. What tremendous power the mind has over the senses! The mind is everything.
In the Bhagavatha Purana it is mentioned: Krishna and Radha took birth within a few moments of each other. Radha was a normal baby in every way – except that she wouldn't open her eyes. A few days later, Radha's mother visited Krishna's house to see the baby Krishna. She took her newborn daughter with her. The moment Radha was brought into Krishna's presence, she opened her eyes and beheld Krishna before her.
Later in life, when questioned by a friend, Radha remarked, "What else was there to see? It is for Krishna that I have taken birth. So I waited till I was taken to his presence to open my eyes." This may be only a tale, but it illustrates the tremendous power of the mind over the body.
In fact, we might say that Pain is a requisition letter written by the body to the mind, saying, 'Please pay me some attention!' Because your attention is your energy. Wherever you direct your attention, there your energy is also directed, and in that direction you witness growth.
You invite pain upon yourself!
Not many people will believe it if they are told that all their pains are those they have invited upon themselves, like honoured guests into their household. Yet this is true.
A small story:
Nitti Mudaliar entered a restaurant and began ordering vast quantities of food. Platefuls of steaming idlis, dosas and jalebis made their way to his table. He ate with relish. After a hearty meal, Nitti finally signaled the waiter to stop bringing in the food. The waiter duly returned with a little white slip.
"What is this?' asked Nitti, looking at the bill innocently. "Why have you brought me this? I hadn't ordered anything like this!"
In much the same way, we too invite pain and disease upon ourselves with our immoderate habits and stressful lifestyles – and then forget all about it and complain later when disease takes its toll.
And sometimes we do enjoy the disease too, though no one ever admits to that! Just like how an organ asking for your attention develops a disease, you yourself fall ill in order to get the attention of others.
This is not a wonder, for in the hectic pace of today's life, who has the time to pay attention to anyone else, unless they fall ill? Attention is such a basic need! Psychology proves that normally a man can stay alive without food for upto 90 days, but without the attention of others he will lose his sanity in just 14 days. Because attention is energy, it is a life-force. Though we are unaware of it, the craving for attention is so great that to gain it we create our own low-energy pool, and gladly suffer from everything from cold to cancer.
In a relationship, you often notice that both parties are begging for each other's attention, begging bowls outstretched. Do you think two beggars can have a positive and fulfilling relationship? To truly attain freedom from disease, stop begging for attention. This is a subtle, psychological begging, which happens without our complete awareness, and which is ultimately far more damaging than physical begging.
Life teaches us a lot of things. Understanding them is our responsibility. But we live in a constant sate of somnambulism, unaware of what we are inviting upon ourselves.
Let me illustrate with a small story:
An engineer working in a large firm would bring he same dish for lunch everyday. Everyday he would complain about how much he hated that particular dish, and his sympathetic friends would share their lunch with him. Taking pity on the man's plight, his friends finally advised him, "Why don't you ask your wife to cook something you like, for a change? How can she not be aware that you hate this dish?"
"What wife?", the man replied in surprise. "I'm a bachelor. I cook my own lunch!"
This may sound funny, but it's true: we live our lives in much the same way. Through our lack of awareness, we first invite pain upon ourselves, and then complain abut it and resort to painkillers. And the truly shameful thing is, we don't even mind getting afflicted by the same disease again and again – because we don't identify ourselves as the root cause of the problem. We throw the responsibility for the pain on others, never on ourselves.
What is the cure for pain? If pain is perceived as the absence of your attention, then the remedy must be your presence. There is a simple and beautiful self-healing meditation technique that channels your 'presence' into the diseased limb. You can try it out the next time you experience pain (e.g. leg pain). It is definitely a better option to painkillers, whose side-effects sometimes prove worse that the original complaint!
The meditation: Lie down in a dark room. Make a conscious effort to, forget about your whole body, focusing only on the limb/ spot which causes you pain. As you experience your painful limb, deliberately drop the word 'Pain' from your mind. Your mental chatter will continue to tell you that you feel pain. Switch it off. Feel deeply, experience with an open mind. Look into what happening inside your mind. You will soon see that your mind was just exaggerating the pain. Put all your awareness on the center of the pain, and it will soon shrink to become just a tiny pinpoint of pain. Concentrate completely on this point, and you will discover in a sudden moment that the pain has disappeared, and in its place is pleasure, bliss. For the root of pain and pleasure T are the same, it's the same sensation with two names. If you've ever received a good massage from a friend or a professional, you'll realise that the same massage would seem like sheer physical violence if you receive it at the hands of a stranger!
If you try to understand the truth of your experience, it will be that 'pain' doesn't exist at all. Pain has only a negative existence. Like darkness, it is only an absence - the absence of awareness. As darkness disappears of its own accord when light is brought into a room, pain dissolves automatically when the energy of your awareness is focused upon it. Any kind of pain can be transcended by this meditation. I invite you to experience it for yourself, to channel your pain into meditation and use it as a tool to enter your being. You'll find that Pain is a door to pleasure (Ānanda).
Pain
can be a valuable lesson!
A short story:
Two men, one a gnani (enlightened person) and the other a haughty landowner, are traveling through a forest in the dark. Suddenly a shaft of lightning flashes in the sky. This leaves the landowner trembling in fear of the impending storm. On the other hand, the gnani uses uses the moment to take a better look at the road ahead and ascertain that he's traveling in the right direction.
Pain is like this flash of lightning. Whether you use this pain, or get used by it, is up to you. If you use it to look into your being, you will realize that you are the cause of your own pain, and only you can be the solution.
When you observe your pain deeply, an innocence opens up in you. For the first time, you become aware that you are not the body. No pain can touch the real You. Once you realize that you are beyond pain, you transcend pain to become a Dukkha Ateeta (one who has gone beyond suffering). You experience the rare freedom that arises with non-attachment to the body which you carry all your life. You transcend your mundane life and are transported to a spiritual plane. You then exist in the world as an Ātman, an enlightened master. The whole material world disappears and another world arises – of incomparable beauty, innocence, joy and compassion.
As the Gita says:
"Sama dukkha sukha swastha sama loshtaashma kaanchana Tulya priyaapriyo dheerasthulya nindaatma samstuti" ("He who is ever established in the Self, takes woe and joy alike, regards a clod of earth, a stone and a piece of gold equal in value, is possessed of wisdom, receives the pleasant and the unpleasant in the same spirit, and views censure and praise alike".)
With gnana and dhyana, awareness and practice, pain can become the magic portal to enter into THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM, eternal bliss. My blessings are always with you.