One of the unavoidable facts of life is that there is suffering. Nobody is spared in this life of suffering. However not all people react to suffering in the same way. The idea of spiritual life is to transcend it by acknowledging it and becoming aware of it. The suffering stays as it is , but it no longer has its hold on us. When we develop this supreme attitude of living superficially and attending to the divine presence which is our true nature , suffering becomes a non entity .
Suffering can be alleviated by properly understanding what is the suffering happening in us. By directing awareness towards it we should become familiar with what is internally happening. For e.g. there may be a trouble in a relationship . We need to understand what is happening in us when that trouble happens. If we do that the suffering is alleviated automatically. For e.g. there could be hatred happening , anger rising etc. Become aware of all these reactions inside you. The very fact that there is knowledge of them, is enough to dissolve them. Otherwise what happens is suffering rules our actions. It stimulates us to do various desperate actions. When we are aware of suffering , then we no longer become affected.
The reason why suffering needs to be understood is to see what is our relation to it. Initially it may seem odd to look bluntly at our own suffering as many people believe that it is better not to look at it. But spiritual practice looks at suffering in a different way. We need to stare directly at suffering to understand our relation towards it , so that we can explore the possibility of having a different relation to it. If we are unconscious of how we are reacting, we are driven by the mind to increase it. The more aware we are of it , the easier it becomes to transcend it and develop a quieter relation to it.
One more tenet of spiritual life is clearly developing the discriminatory power to distinguish between what is permanent and what is not. This power is often called vivekam in vedanta circles. When we live our mundane life we don't take much time to distinguish them. We attribute much importance to so many things like artha ( various wealth), kama( desire) , and dharma.. Only when suffering and old age hits us do we look back on all these aspects of life. Spirituality tells us that all these are impermanent things and hence suffering arising from them need not trouble us. Also we should start to slowly get detached from all these material possessions.
There is a very important aspect of this understanding. Many people try to abandon things physically without developing the mental detachment towards it. I am giving up this , i am giving up that and so on. Now what happens is that internally there is a sort of clinging to a thought that i gave up that because i was sort of forced to do that . How sad it is ?. But i am doing this for the sake of others , so it is alright. Now you can see that there are still lot of mental clinging of those objects , even though we have physically abandoned it. The dropping of mental clinging to these objects should always precede the physical detachment. Then only detachment makes sense. How we do this ?. Again it comes to becoming aware of the clinging. Notice how our thought patterns are centered around aspects which we consider as important. Then slowly let them go. Just allowing them to fly past us. See the calm settling down. Once we truly become free from the thought patterns then physical detachment is easy. Many people think the other way, they think we can abandon physically first then get used to it . No. That never works.
One of the coolest things in spiritual life is that it also gives us practical ways to develop this attitude. The most important aspect of knowing our own inner world can be achieved with the help of sitting meditation , atma vichara and being attentive when doing tasks thus slowly living in meditation. Another kind of meditation that can be done is to pray for the welfare of even people we don't like . Let them become peaceful and harmonious . This helps us to build compassion.
Here is a summary of things you can try
Meditate daily, every morning and evening for at least 20 minutes. See your suffering and your story and attachments, as you meditate. As you come out of meditation just see what were the things grabbed you .
After a time, add compassion meditation. Wish for your suffering to end, then expand it to others in your life, then to all living beings.
Then, when a difficulty arises in your daily life, see the suffering, see the attachment, and expand your mind beyond it, giving yourself compassion while seeing that you are bigger than this attachment. Let it be there like a little cloud, floating around in the wide expanse of your awareness, and then lightly let it float away, rather than sinking yourself into it. This is one way of developing a different relation to the suffering. Another way is to let it go by understanding its impermanence.
Suffering can be alleviated by properly understanding what is the suffering happening in us. By directing awareness towards it we should become familiar with what is internally happening. For e.g. there may be a trouble in a relationship . We need to understand what is happening in us when that trouble happens. If we do that the suffering is alleviated automatically. For e.g. there could be hatred happening , anger rising etc. Become aware of all these reactions inside you. The very fact that there is knowledge of them, is enough to dissolve them. Otherwise what happens is suffering rules our actions. It stimulates us to do various desperate actions. When we are aware of suffering , then we no longer become affected.
The reason why suffering needs to be understood is to see what is our relation to it. Initially it may seem odd to look bluntly at our own suffering as many people believe that it is better not to look at it. But spiritual practice looks at suffering in a different way. We need to stare directly at suffering to understand our relation towards it , so that we can explore the possibility of having a different relation to it. If we are unconscious of how we are reacting, we are driven by the mind to increase it. The more aware we are of it , the easier it becomes to transcend it and develop a quieter relation to it.
One more tenet of spiritual life is clearly developing the discriminatory power to distinguish between what is permanent and what is not. This power is often called vivekam in vedanta circles. When we live our mundane life we don't take much time to distinguish them. We attribute much importance to so many things like artha ( various wealth), kama( desire) , and dharma.. Only when suffering and old age hits us do we look back on all these aspects of life. Spirituality tells us that all these are impermanent things and hence suffering arising from them need not trouble us. Also we should start to slowly get detached from all these material possessions.
There is a very important aspect of this understanding. Many people try to abandon things physically without developing the mental detachment towards it. I am giving up this , i am giving up that and so on. Now what happens is that internally there is a sort of clinging to a thought that i gave up that because i was sort of forced to do that . How sad it is ?. But i am doing this for the sake of others , so it is alright. Now you can see that there are still lot of mental clinging of those objects , even though we have physically abandoned it. The dropping of mental clinging to these objects should always precede the physical detachment. Then only detachment makes sense. How we do this ?. Again it comes to becoming aware of the clinging. Notice how our thought patterns are centered around aspects which we consider as important. Then slowly let them go. Just allowing them to fly past us. See the calm settling down. Once we truly become free from the thought patterns then physical detachment is easy. Many people think the other way, they think we can abandon physically first then get used to it . No. That never works.
One of the coolest things in spiritual life is that it also gives us practical ways to develop this attitude. The most important aspect of knowing our own inner world can be achieved with the help of sitting meditation , atma vichara and being attentive when doing tasks thus slowly living in meditation. Another kind of meditation that can be done is to pray for the welfare of even people we don't like . Let them become peaceful and harmonious . This helps us to build compassion.
Here is a summary of things you can try
Meditate daily, every morning and evening for at least 20 minutes. See your suffering and your story and attachments, as you meditate. As you come out of meditation just see what were the things grabbed you .
After a time, add compassion meditation. Wish for your suffering to end, then expand it to others in your life, then to all living beings.
Then, when a difficulty arises in your daily life, see the suffering, see the attachment, and expand your mind beyond it, giving yourself compassion while seeing that you are bigger than this attachment. Let it be there like a little cloud, floating around in the wide expanse of your awareness, and then lightly let it float away, rather than sinking yourself into it. This is one way of developing a different relation to the suffering. Another way is to let it go by understanding its impermanence.
Think of spirituality more ,than the materialistic inclinations in life.
The most important question now comes up. So i am getting free of all these, what should i do ?. Here is the deepest understanding of spiritual life . Rest in your awareness. Just notice everything and experience your blissful self. There is no need to attain anything for this. No wealth can equal it. No life situation can give it to you. Understand yourself more intimately. As you go deeper and deeper , you would never want to come out of the state. It becomes your natural abode. Spreading the word around to others could also be a worthy task. The search is over. Let life pass. So you can see end of suffering is also blissful presence. This is where you came from. You are back to your true home. Welcome home.
The most important question now comes up. So i am getting free of all these, what should i do ?. Here is the deepest understanding of spiritual life . Rest in your awareness. Just notice everything and experience your blissful self. There is no need to attain anything for this. No wealth can equal it. No life situation can give it to you. Understand yourself more intimately. As you go deeper and deeper , you would never want to come out of the state. It becomes your natural abode. Spreading the word around to others could also be a worthy task. The search is over. Let life pass. So you can see end of suffering is also blissful presence. This is where you came from. You are back to your true home. Welcome home.
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