Asked by a 47 year old Female
Suffering is a common experience of humanity but it’s degree, nature, impact and consequences differ. It is easy to see that the root cause of suffering is ignorance which means that one does not understand the truth of things, that one is carried away by appearances. A right understanding, right evaluation and right response to events and circumstances of life takes away much of the sting of suffering if it does not abolish it altogether. If this was the only reason for suffering then we can say that as one evolves, the degree of suffering should diminish. However the more one evolves, the more one begins to feel the suffering of others. One grows in sensitivity and also, moved by compassion, begins to absorb the suffering of others. At the same time dense ignorance makes the nature hard and hence there is an inability to experience suffering! It is also true that as one evolves suffering becomes subtler but not less intense for that matter.
So it is difficult to draw any general conclusions from the fact of outer suffering. However what is true is that a sadhak or one more evolved makes the maximum use of one’s suffering. One may develop a sense of disenchantment and cultivate detachment while others take it as an indication to pray, to grow closer to God, to surrender one’s will to the Divine, or else universalising it grow in compassion towards humanity in general. Or one may take it as a tonic to grow strong. One takes it as a purifying ordeal knowing that the ego must be crucified to liberate the soul within. So the difference is not so much in the fact of the suffering but in the attitude with which one faces it.
At the same time it is true that the greater one rises in the scale of evolution the greater the tests and challenges one faces. After all one cannot expect to climb the mountain peaks without the risk of breathlessness.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
