How pain protects us

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
I would like to speak on one important theme about optimism and pessimism in life generally often people take to spiritual life if they face some difficulty in life nowadays spirituality is becoming quite popular in corporate circles some yoga, some meditation so people feel that spirituality is a good way to de-stress oneself not distress, de-stress remove the stress and basically the idea is that spirituality can help us to make our mind peaceful so that we can become more focused in practice and pursue our material goals with greater enthusiasm this is also one way we can utilize spirituality and sometimes we hear the philosophy, many people feel that the Vedic philosophy is a bit too pessimistic about the miseries of life Krishna says that a symptom of knowledge very important symptom of knowledge is that one is able to see the miseries janma is birth mithyu is death, jara is old age and yadi is disease and he says darshanam is to see normally the word darshan is used in the context of seeing the deities we go and take darshan in the temple Krishna is using the same word darshan we will discuss the significance of that later he says that one should see these miseries is actually an invention so the normal material tendency is to hide and forget and deny the miseries forget means that we try to forget that there is any problem in life hide means even if I am suffering I don’t show it to others and deny means even if somebody inquires so the general tendency in life is to forget hide or deny the miseries so especially when we come to a place like a hospital and if we come not as visitors but as patients then we can see that actually actually a visit to a hospital can be very sobering I don’t know whether you saw there is a ICU and there is a ICU for small babies in an ICU they call it so it is frightening sight to see small babies sometimes their whole body is not bigger than a palm and there are dozen tubes in their body distressing to see that we can imagine how much distress that child must be suffering so actually our body has capacity to give us enormous pain Mahatma Dalai Lama Narasimha Bhagwat in his 7th and 9th chapter describes the body as asheesh vijan viroha vijay is disease asheesh is unlimited and viroha is the breathing place you see the body is the breathing place of unlimited diseases unlimited diseases so in general we try not to think about this even if just yesterday there was a bomb blast in Norway few days ago there was a bomb blast in India Mumbai itself so these are incidents which just come on the they come like a sudden blip on the radar of our consciousness but public media and public persons are there just a blip and it goes off and our mind becomes preoccupied with so many other things because of the sheer social and cultural propaganda that exists in society now we may think yes these sufferings are there better go on with life and don’t become distressed if you think of all these problems and these inevitable sufferings that are there actually awareness of pain can be a great protection how is that? there is a rare disease called as SIPA as you mentioned I have a website called spiritualscientist.com where different people ask me questions and I post brief articles which answer those questions so just a couple of weeks ago I wrote an article about why is there pain in this way so this is called SIPA SIPA is congenital insensitivity to pain with anhydrosis congenital means from birth only insensitivity what does it mean? pain with anhydrosis anhydrosis means the person cannot generate any water, the person cannot shed tears cannot generate saliva saliva sometimes comes from the tongue but basically externally cannot generate sweat sweat or tears don’t come so when babies are born like this the babies are completely wetless when the first SIPA baby comes out children normally whatever they get they are in what is called as annamai kosh they experience the world through their tongue whatever they get they are good in that so they put their fingers also in their tongue sometimes the old people also do that they are not grown out of the habit but what these children do is their teeth have grown and they start chewing their finger and sometimes they just rip out the skin practically rip out the skin and no tears blood is coming from here there is no expression in their face there are no tears in their eyes sweeping out the skin for such children actually as soon as the teeth starts coming the teeth has to be extracted as soon as the teeth starts coming so they cannot have any tooth in their life and even when they grow up further actually all the normal activities that children do they have to be very guarded by them for example they don’t feel any pain rubbing their eyes rubbing their eyes they might just rub their eyes violently and their eyes sometimes get infected wounded so as soon as the first nail starts coming out they have to be careful otherwise they become eye infections are very common among them and as the children start playing as they grow up and they start playing they play with absolute fearlessness you know if a child is playing football and the ball has gone near a wall and running very fast and you see you are coming close to the wall you slow down these children have fear but that fearlessness is not intelligence it is just foolishness bang into a wall crack their head break their arms fall down get up and walk so you know the parents of these children there are hundreds it is a very rare disease so the parents of these children have only one prayer our children feel some pain normal parents don’t want their children to feel any pain our parents have a feeling that even if all the struggle that I had to go through my son should not go through that that is the desire of the parents which is true, which is desirable also but here only they would feel pain that pain would act as a protection so actually speaking through this one example we can understand even with our limited intelligence within our limited perspective of one lifetime how pain can act as a protection so now our modern society to some extent makes us all into Sipa patients we are not congenital but we are actually cultural you know we become culturally insensitive to pain how does that happen one of the Prabhupada’s early disciples when he came to India he was interested in Indian philosophy and he read some books he read some Vedic literature why do Indians say this world is a place of misery all the time and then when he came to India and he saw the crowded locals of India he understood why the world is a place of misery so actually speaking it’s not that America is not a place of misery America also is a place of misery because there is old age, there is disease, there is death there also but because the western culture does a very good cover up job sometimes if you go to a hospital also, the hospital seems like a 5 star hotel and then people who are going there they are impressed, what a beautiful hospital what is happening inside is so beautiful so the modern society covers up the pains of life and because we get covered up by covering the pains we are not going to go away still everybody has to go on everybody has to get diseased everybody has to go on and it is miserable so by denying them, by forgetting them by hiding them you don’t do any good when those miseries come we suffer so the Vedic culture says, don’t try to become insensitive to pain, you cannot become insensitive to pain as said, because when the pain comes we will be afflicted by the pain but we should not become blind to the pain this is the reality of life so even if the Vedic philosophy appears pessimistic it is pessimistic only initially it is not pessimistic final pessimism is initial so that there can be final what does that mean just like if a patient has got cancer doctor will print a very grainy picture this will happen by this, this will happen and then we create pain in him the patient had some pain in the body before I came now you are frightening me you are creating a pain in my mind also what kind of doctor are you no if the doctor has a cure for that for that disease generally if you know cancer the cure is not very easy there is chemotherapy or radiotherapy which is a rigorous treatment so this treatment requires determination from the patient so the more the patient understands the more the patient understands how serious the disease is how painful it is going to be eventually, even if it doesn’t seem painful right now then he will become more serious to take the treatments similarly especially in youth we do not feel life as very distressing, of course one benefit of Kalyuga is in youth also there is distress but the distress is not so much it is because of stress and competition and tension and depression but even if we don’t feel especially in youth because our body seems to have a lot of energy we can do a lot certainly we should do the needful in our material life but the idea that in material life eventually we can become happy everything will settle down peacefully so we need to talk about how miserable this world is so that they can offer us the cure the cure the cure is lifting our consciousness above our body see actually currently I am working on a book on reincarnation so much scientific evidence not just from past life memories there is a Muslim boy who became a Hindu boy Hindu boy is going and he is from his childhood he is saying this is my father, this is my mother it is quite sensational there are many amazing cases there are out of body experiences where a patient is having a cardiac arrest and he is operated and he is completely unconscious and while he is unconscious a person from an out of body perspective sees what is happening he floats out and the soul and the subtle body go out there was one lady 30 year old lady Michael Sabom in one of his books cardiologist from UC Virginia she had an out of body experience and she floated out and her sister’s husband her brother-in-law was there and the brother-in-law was looking at her if she is going to kick the bucket if she is going to kick the bucket better she do it soon because I have an appointment in one hour and then she came back to consciousness and her brother-in-law came in front of her and said thank you for your love so he was so embarrassed so there are so many well documented evidences that a person can be conscious beyond the body so there is a lot of scientific evidence that we are different from the body we are the souls so now the more we become spiritually conscious the more the body is misery good things now this is a little little little difficult to understand for those who have not experienced any spiritual happiness but most of us probably have experienced some joy in kirtans when we sing and dance in kirtans actually at a physical level we are interested the body is sweating the legs are paining afterwards but we experience some higher happiness so this higher happiness is actually our spiritual nature and just like if a person is watching a movie now actually nothing is happening to him while he is watching the movie but if the hero gets beaten up and the hero is beating come on he is admitting so what is happening? Misidentification person is identifying with the viewer is identifying with the hero and then all the virtual emotions seem real so like that the soul when he identifies with the body all that happens to the body seems real and the more the soul doesn’t identify with the body sometimes there are some cartoon shows some cartoons are such that they polarize people some people love cartoons and some other people say its so ridiculous what is this? what are you watching? nonsense so even among among secular cartoons tend to polarize so on one side a person will be completely glued to the cartoon all sorts of emotions frightened he is going through a whole gamut of emotions what am I just watching? what is this? he is not going through any emotions he is just pity basically or compassion so how is this happening? this is because the same show is going on there but there is attachment and misidentification similarly the great devotees of the lord when they come to this material world they see people suffering in this world and Krishna says such a person hears the pranam he sees the changes of life in this world but he is not living there he is not hard hearted he knows they are feeling suffering and he wants to mitigate their suffering so that he tries to do spiritual education so now this body existence is an illusion for the soul and the impetus for coming out of this illusion is the pain that the body causes if if illusion is always pleasant and enjoyable then they may never want to come out of it so the miseries of this world are the reminders of this illusion so the Vedic culture, Vedic philosophy focuses on those miseries in our Vedic culture when a person dies his body is burned it is a very graphic and sensory process because you see the person and you see the body that creates contemplation so on the other hand you take a corpse and put it in the cremation and burial and see intensity of observation intensity of emotion so by seeing the reality the reality at the material level he starts contemplating is there something happening and so the pains and the miseries of this world are the impetus for us to direct our ambition in a more realistic and fruitful direction the Vedic culture doesn’t say that we have to become unambitious, don’t do anything no, our ambition we have intelligence, we have abilities, so we direct our abilities in a realistic and fruitful direction that means in real life whatever we achieve, if it is divorced from Krishna consciousness then we are just going to perpetuate our illusion and this illusion is going to convince us just like we decide to go to watch a movie and when we go to watch the movie I will enjoy and then nobody tells us initially that movie is a horror movie there is one horror scene secret horror scene when will there be romance when will some dancing and singing there is no happy ending the horror keeps increasing boys want to get out of it so our material life is like a horror movie of course the only difference is we are not the spectator, we are the victim so society creates a illusion society creates a conception that this is a very enjoyable movie and we watch with expectations but actually the kind of suffering that can happen from bodily diseases from misunderstandings in relationships from environmental disasters so they are just huge there are many and they are horrifying so intelligent person recognizes that I need to attach myself to the reality so the process of bhakti does not mean that we reject this world and all of us have to become religious or anything like that what it means is that actually Krishna is so merciful that suppose you have a very good friend and he is in a and suppose I am watching a movie and this person says I am not paying attention, I am completely absorbed in the movie how to get me out of the movie then he goes to the place where the movie is being shot and he enters into the movie can you remember me? remember me? how did you come here? slowly I start remembering so our consciousness is completely caught at the material level so we can’t completely leave the spiritual level, Krishna is right there in our heart but we can’t hear, he is speaking we can’t hear, he is present we can’t see, so what does Krishna comes into our mood Krishna comes as the deity, Krishna comes as the avatar Krishna comes as the scripture Krishna comes as the holy name and by this he awakens us to the reality so the process of bhakti means that we have emotions and we can’t just deny those emotions but we direct those emotions at a spiritual level towards Krishna and his manifestations so in this way our life which is actually illusion becomes a way to reality so for a devotee, a student as a student we don’t have to reject our studies rather than doing our studies to perpetuate the illusion that I am so great, I am so clever and I will climb on top of everyone and attain success material nature, material life at some stage becomes insane daily what is the game? everybody is trying to show how great I am and at the end, material nature shows how great she is everybody is finished so we continue the material life but without looking to Krishna as a devotee, we study because it’s our duty, it’s our service to Krishna we have family members we take care of family members but we understand that my relationships should be such that they help me in my spiritual relationship and for us devotees association is most important for us because devotees are those who are focusing on that reality by associating with them we keep getting reminded of the real purpose of life and eventually as we make more and more spiritual advancements we find that actually even at the material level while we are in the material world we can start experiencing more and more spiritual happiness and then get connected more and more with Krishna we are connected more and more with Krishna and get experience more and more spiritual happiness, then actually we contribute more to this world why we contribute more to this world? because as long as people are motivated by selfishness then whatever they contribute Actually, they are contributing so that they can take from the world. And actually, whatever they do, it creates more and more problems. But when we are experiencing inner happiness, and then we share that happiness with others, then actually we can do it.
So, Bhakti is not so much about rejecting the world, but about transforming ourselves so that we can transform the world. So, we went to the hospital, and I was just asked a few days ago to give a talk to all the doctors here. So, they had a board meeting, and they called all the doctors.
So, I gave a talk to all the doctors. I told them that this hospital is a living synthesis of science and spirituality. In science, we have state-of-the-art technology for taking care of the patients.
So, generally, I had a fracture, so the movie was very difficult. Normally, in spite of that, most of the hospitals, the patient still has to go to the x-ray clinic, to x-ray center to have x-ray done. But here, as in good technology, they have mobile x-ray machine.
You come to the patient, and they can do the x-ray. So, they have very good technology available. So, the technological part, the science is there.
But along with that, the people here are immersed in this. So, the spiritual care department that is there over here, which keeps the emotions of the people, which encourages them. Because one of the biggest problems, when a person gets sick, or gets an accident, or in another way, physically traumatized, is the emotion that they have.
In the beginning times, the person feels that their pain is varying. So, the emotional part is taking care of the spiritual aspect. And that’s why, the patients who come here, they get discharged, and then they come back here again.
Not as patients, but as devotees. They have a sort of Pushpa Anjali program once a month, where all the ex-patients come and meet their doctors. And the doctors don’t deal with the doctors, doctors give them classes on spirituality.
And how spiritual principles can help them to build their health and their life. So, that way, the spiritual, the scientific part, you know, will be taken into consideration. And all of you, you are also now studying in a premier science college.
And if you become spiritually minded, all of you can become a living personification. The synthesis of science and spirituality. That is scientific education, and get a respectable position in society.
And then, you also practice spiritual principles, share your spiritual principles. This can actually, in a tangible, substantial way, help us become agents of transformation in this world. To summarize, I started by talking about how our society tries to forget, hide, or deny pain.
I discussed about SIPA, how pain can be a great protection. Lack of sensitivity to pain can be a great disaster. Then I discussed about how the material world is a place of pain.
It’s a fact. All of us have it. So many varieties of diseases are there.
And even if you don’t get any major diseases, still there is old age, there is death. So, Vedic culture, Vedic philosophy, rather than denying, rather than trying to forget this reality, any means is to learn from this reality. So, we discussed about how cancer patient is aware of the sickness, the magnitude of the sickness, the gravity of the sickness, we take the treatment of the sickness.
Similarly, we have to understand that eventually, no matter how bright our life seems to be, at the material level, our life is doomed, doomed to suffering and death. Then we have to take the remedy, Krishna Consciousness over sickness. And the remedy of Krishna Consciousness, I discussed how currently our existence at the bodily level is like an illusion.
Science also is providing evidence to the past life. So, it’s like a person getting absorbed in watching a movie. But the movie has some promise later on, it turns out to be a horror movie, called Lot of Suffering.
So, better become detached from the media, come to the reality. And the way to do that is, by focusing our emotions and our aspirations on the manifestations of Krishna Consciousness, the manifestations of reality. So, that our life in this world of illusion also becomes a pathway for us to return to the life of reality.
I mean, all of you can be personifications of the synthesis of science and spirituality, scientific education. And if you do understand it, you can become agents of possible transformation. Thank you very much.
Any questions? Thank you very much. That is, you are in the state of… I’m sorry for getting in trouble, but your business is related to my past. I’m happy to be of service to all of you.
I’m sorry you had to be in a cramped situation like this. But, this is also sensitive to pain. Thank you very much.