Suffering in sorrow is one of the most painful feelings one can go through. It is more painful to see someone else suffer in sorrow. Especially when you are feeling others’ sorrow and there is little or nothing you can do about it.
Why does God allow Suffering?
Sorrow and suffering is the reason why we are alive today. If there was no sorrow or suffering, we will not know how to live. When there is sorrow or suffering, we look towards the end of this sorrow so we can know how to be happy. And, when we are happy, we are ignorant of our state and we take happiness for granted. We do stupid things so that we can experience more happiness. There is nothing called more happiness. When desire creeps into wanting more happiness, happiness turns to pleasure. And pleasure brings sorrow and pain.
So, we keep going up and down in happiness and sorrow, pleasure and pain.
God allows suffering only because He wants you to know who you really are. Suffering is a momentary feeling of being disconnected from your eternal Self and identification with the limited self. When you come to know your reality, all suffering becomes an opportunity to serve God.
Grief and Sorrow
When we are in grief and sorrow, we are willing to do anything to get rid of it. If you spent too much time in sorrow, you will get depressed and you will not want to live any longer. And grief and sorrow can also create physical suffering. But, if you spend some time in sorrow and want to come out of it, you give yourself that opportunity.
Sorrow and pain can be a great teacher. Sorrow brings with it an opportunity to serve. It is only by serving yourself that you can come out of sorrow. And there is a way to do it. The way is Karma Yoga. It is the only way to bring the end of suffering.
Why do we suffer?
When you are in sorrow and suffering, you want everyone to look at you. You want to feel more and more miserable because you are thinking and feeling that the worst has happened to you. You become more and more selfish and self-centered. You want the world to look at you and feel sorry for you.
All creatures go through the emotions of happiness, joy, pain and suffering. But there is a difference between human suffering and animal suffering. We suffer more because we expand our experience. When we are happy, we want the world to know that we are happy. And we behave the same way when we are unhappy, sad or suffering.
We want everyone to know. We want attention from everyone. We are living in hollowness. We want everyone else to fill their feelings in our hollowness.
Healing pain and suffering
The way to heal your pain and suffering in sorrow is very simple. But it is not easy. Once you get the habit, it becomes easy. Then you cannot get into a state of suffering ever.
In times of sorrow, instead of sitting in a dark room with no lights, and reminding yourself that life is suffering, go out and serve. You can begin your service by helping people with little things. In the beginning you will see nobody wanting help. You must be patient and you will see. Begin with small tasks. Then you will see great opportunities to help others.
When you begin to help others, you will see how small your sorrow is when compared to how much light you can share by helping others.
And by helping others, you are getting rid of your sorrow and suffering. You must not stop when you feel light and beautiful. You must continue serving so that you can spread more and more light with everyone. This is why God has brought us here. This is our purpose of life.
When you learn to spread light through service, you will know the true meaning of life.
So, every moment, instead of thinking how much you are suffering, it is better to look at what service you can render to people, nature, animals and all of the creations of God.
About the Author – Mahesh Krishnamurthy helps people overcome there suffering in sorrow through specific techniques that he has created from the guidance he received in his meditations. For a personal session, you can schedule a work with me appointment.
