A Sadhak once asked his teacher,
“Master, Why can’t I remain peaceful, in
spite of doing so many spiritual
sadhanas. Why can’t I be devoid of
suffering in spite of reading so many
spiritual books and listening to
religious discourses? Is enlightenment
possible for such as I?”
‘To be liberated from suffering you
must first understand what suffering
is’. Sri Bhagavan says, “Suffering is
nothing but the continuous thought
processing that happens in the mind over
an event or incident of the past.
Suffering is nothing but the ‘carry
over’ of the past events of our life.
There are two kinds of people who
have walked on these sands, enlightened
and unenlightened. Enlightened ones are
those who are ‘ordinary’ and
unenlightened are those who are
‘extraordinary’ (extra suffering). An
enlightened one, does not suffer because
he is constantly living in the present,
experiencing every bit of what life is
offering him. But for those who are
unenlightened, life itself is reduced to
nothing but suffering.
To be aware is to be enlightened. The
whole purpose of life itself is to live
life moment to moment. If one observes
the thought process in oneself, then it
can easily be discovered that the ‘CARRY
OVER’ is the suffering. For instance,
there were two friends who were very
close right from their childhood. Out of
sheer misunderstanding, they landed in a
bitter quarrel and they broke up. The
fight by itself is nothing but mere
‘calling names’. But it doesn’t end
there, the event continues to plague the
mind, be it at kitchen, office, watching
TV or even at a party! It follows… It
continues. The suffering springs only
when our mind indulges in unnecessary
thoughts about living in past or future,
without living in the present. This
constant commentary or dialogue in the
mind is the cause for all suffering,
where even after an event has ended, it
is continued within where we still talk
to the other person, who has hurt us.
An enlightened person experiences
everything, which makes his life rich,
eternal and ever fresh, but for an
unenlightened, life is mechanical and
repetitive, hence boring. One who is
enlightened enjoys the ice cream whereas
one who is unenlightened does not enjoy
the ice cream because he would be busy
with the question – who made the ice
cream? Which factory? Which cow’s milk?
Which grass did the cow ate? One who is
living will never question the purpose
of life. Why would he! He is only
experiencing.
Now the question is how to end this
unnecessary thought process. Any effort
in this direction is a futile endeavour,
because any effort to silence the mind
would only create more noise - “THOUGHT
CANNOT END THOUGHT”.
Buddha was Buddha not because he read
books. Venkataramana didn’t become
Ramana Maharishi because he attended
religious discourses. Enlightenment is
something that is beyond the purview of
the mind. It is not transformation
within the mind; Enlightenment is a
state where you transcend the mind and
its limitations. Such a happening is a
benediction.
“To experience is to believe.’
Enlightenment is a benediction bestowed
today upon thousands by Sri Bhagavan and
Sri Padmavathi Devi.
Come! Alive into the waters of
immense grace and experience, because…..
“Man cannot make it on His own … It has
to be given to Him.