Yoga - The Way to Happiness Through A Perfect Understanding
Causes of Human Suffering ...
We all know what suffering is, day after day we are dealing with suffering in our lives. The pain ranges from mild discomfort to a deep agony, whether in the physical, the emotional or mental levels. We also know that suffering is relative, has to do directly with the person who experiences. The same experience has a different impact on different individuals according to their personal characteristics. Individuals living in the most extreme conditions, with difficult childhoods, with many hardships, which have experienced much pain, usually create more resistance to pain, becoming more tolerant to discomfort. So far it's all right, but then what are the causes of suffering, and how to eradicate it? Life experiences teach us little by little. Every day is a valuable lesson. We begin by understanding the physical level, and in a very simple way, the mechanics behind how to live a quiet life, serene, and satisfying, avoiding unnecessary suffering.
For example, when I sit on a chair and start to feel a little discomfort, immediately I adjust my posture, it’s a reflex, it happens, whether I realize it or not.
If I hurt my back by bending it, the natural reaction is to straighten the back, adjusting posture, thus undoing the cause of the discomfort, bringing harmony and well being again. If I keep the back rounded refusing me to adjust the posture, the discomfort will increase until the it becames agony. Likewise in the chair if do not adjust the posture, the discomfort will increase until it becomes agony, or until I adjust the posture. And if I change my seat while my posture is incorrect, I will still feel discomfort. If I eat more than I need, if I don’t eat foods that nourish, that promote longevity, that promote health, if I maintain food habits that are harmful to me, gradually, I begin to feel discomfort in the body until later is installed a framework of disease, the result of an incorrect posture, maintained for a long time. After that, and without correcting the posture, in this case a change of diet, the body being unable to regenerate due to lack of interruption of aggression will degenerate until the disintegration, what we know as the death of the physical body, whether or not we are aware of this process. Well this principle so simple that it sometimes happens automatically in our lives, which promotes this very small changes, like straightening my spine, getting away from the fire, the covering of the body protecting it from cold, a change of diet, a change of habits, is also the same mechanism that lies behind the major changes. For the change to be effective, a change of posture alone is not sufficient, we need to maintain the new position long enough until it becomes natural. In the physical level, someone who deformed his spine because of an incorrect posture, just straightening the spine will not be enough, you have to consciously maintain the new behavior until it becomes natural. During this process you will feel some discomfort due to physical constraints that the old attitude caused you, the uneasiness is more or less intense according to the intensity of conditioning. If this habit has been long maintained the discomfort is greater, if the habit is still new the discomfort will be less. The difference in the discomfort of postural misalignment, and the discomfort resulting from postural realignment, is that the first will generate more discomfort, and the second will end up with the discomfort, leading me to my natural state of harmony, tranquility, well-being, homeostasis.
On the physical level it seems simpler to understand, since identification with the physical body is very strong, so I get a clear understanding of it, when it comes to the emotional or mental body’s things tend to become complicated. However, the mechanics are the same, if by chance you are feeling some discomfort in the physical, emotional or mental, is a sign that there are changes that are necessary for the homeostatic state of harmony to get restored. Our nature is harmonious, serene, is quiet, is homeostatic, anything that disturbs that state is perceived as aggression. The definition of homeostasis: it is the property of an open system to regulate its internal environment to maintain a stable condition, with balance. All organisms, unicellular and multicellular, exhibit homeostasis. A large number of ecological systems, biological and social systems are homeostatic, and if they do not succeed in reestablishing its balance, it can lead to disruption of the systems operations. So anything that disrupts this balance, this inner stillness, turns out to be experienced in some way that goes from a deep discomfort to agony in accordance with the nature of the individual, and his level of consciousness. This balance is unique for each individual, and each must find his own, increasing his level of understanding, conquering its peace and inner harmony.
Step by step dispelling the myths, it is necessary a better understanding of what promotes these self-aggression, this low self-esteem, this lack of self love, that is allowing me to continue to attack myself, knowing that I am suffering, preventing and sabotaging any attempt to change and to reestablish harmony. And there are many factors; starting with the idea that pleasure is happiness and that happiness lies outside ourselves, something that has to be gained, and that without it, it’ not worth living, and, according to our personal preferences, we sacrifice everything for this pleasure, since the physical health, relationships, moral values, respect for others, and society as a whole. We don’t even know for sure what this happiness is. Everything revolves around instant gratification, ignoring the consequences of such acts. The promise of immediate pleasure, obscures the conscience, making live in a mental slumber. We learn by experience that this kind of gratification, this pleasure is very brief and soon generates stress on the body, either in the physical, the emotional or mental, and that sooner or later will cause suffering. So if a tree is known by its fruit, also an action is recognized by its outcome. And that "pleasure" is nothing more than "suffering" masked, that seduce and deceive us, sometimes for a moment, a few months, a few years, sometimes for several lives, but never, never forever. Has long as we are a source of suffering, we will experience some form of suffering. Nobody generates suffering voluntarily, each one of us acts according to our level of consciousness, each one does the best he can with what he has. Thus it becomes important to awake to a greater reality, about life’s greater meaning. The great masters have left some guidelines for the journey to be the least painful as possible. They advised us to practice harmlessness towards all living beings in thought, word and deed, so that we could live without any no fear, without attacking and without being attacked in return; they taught us to practice the truth, so that the relationships could be a source of joy, trust and complicity; they taught us not to misappropriate what is not ours, be they objects, situations, and, or persons; they taught us to practice moderation, so that the sensory life could be appreciated, without generating attachment, and consequent suffering, and that freedom, serenity, and harmony resulting could be the basis for higher growth. And they taught us to live a simple life so that I would not become a slave of my comforts, my needs. What was supposed to ease my life, make it more comfortable, allowing more time to enjoy life, eventually enslave me, I have no time and no patience for me and for those around me, and that I love. Without discipline in my life, I lost track of my needs and I lived for the endless desires that invade the mind, always with the same promise of pleasure, most of the times this pleasure lasts so little that most of the times we can’t even notice it, and which is usually followed by restlessness, anxiety, frustration and pain. They taught us to content ourselves with what life brings to us, so that even if things did not go as we hoped for, we would not lose our peace of mind, after all this is our greatest treasure. They taught us not to create too many expectations, so that frustration couldn’t accrue for me and for others; they taught us to love and respect our beloved ones, so that they loved and respected us; they taught us to love others so that life could be more rewarding. But I do not understand, still deluded, helplessly suffering, generating more suffering, and the worse of all this, is to think that it is normal! Just because "everyone" lives like this, it doesn’t mean that it's normal ... The answers will not came until I start asking questions! But who am I anyway? Until now I recognize as the 'I': my body and my mind that are only parts of me, parts that are constantly changing, for better or for worse, am I just hat? I identify myself with my habits, characteristics that are the result of repetition, association, belief, culture, education that I have received, of where I live, and the people with whom I live, etc, am I just that? They told me I was born, I'll die, and that I have be married to be happy, I must have children, I must have a house or two, I need money, I need to have security, I need to have affection, I need be PERFECT, is it really like this? Thus I went to the world, because everyone goes, without questioning what I was told, without questioning who I really am, without questioning the Real Meaning and purpose of Life. Can it be different? It is said that the difference between animal and man lies in mans intelligence, and why is this difference unclaimed, we prefer to live as they do following the crowd? So if you think it is worth the trouble, stop, think, question, discern! It's more than a right is a duty, it is our Dharma. Leave the belief systems, dogmas, the concepts and preconceptions and investigate, go to the source! You have everything you need to investigate, everything is inside you! Who are you? You search for pleasure, love, happiness, can this be your true nature? They say the our being is love that we have within us all happiness, we just have to look for it within, is there any truth here? They say you are a Divine Being, is it possible? Are you really a special being, are you really FREE, wouldn’t that be amazing, imagine, being able to go around the world never looking back, having all this freedom, being free to cut with all dependencies, just being as You Are, without masks without fear. Is there something that really holds you apart from your ideas, your fears, your beliefs ... Think! Discern! You're free to do so! How wonderful, you are free! And you are capable! You have so many tools, so many aids, do not lose hope, believes and you will go forward claiming for a more loving existence.
May the Light guide you, may your heart be your master, May Love became the basis of your life! Go, Discover, Realize, and dont forget to love!
Peacefully,
Satyavan