“Learn to bear and accept, silently, the pain that your physical being has to endure. Avoid making it a larger than life issue and talking about it all the time.”

Swamiji says …

“I am sure most of us remember the words of concern – ‘What happened to you?’ ‘ Where did you fall?’ ‘How did you hurt yourself?’ ‘ Oh! You have a headache. How bad is it?’ The moment these questions were asked by our well-wishers, we would, being children then, burst into tears and bask in their attention, till the time, either our wounds healed, or we were cured of our illness. Did questions of this kind make us relate too often with the pain that our external self suffered with repeatedly? Did all the fuss around our physical pain make us enjoy being the center of attention? Were we unknowingly being trained to be body-centric?”

“Time passes by. We grow up and mature; but as far as a few of us are concerned, our emotional quotient remains nearly the same. Suffering of any kind – physical, emotional or mental and the trauma of bearing distress, till date, still triggers a tide of negative emotions within us. These emotions find an escape route when people enquire about our welfare. We readily begin narrating the story of our aches and pains in graphic detail; and, once this conversational odyssey related to our pain begins – there is no stopping us. We go into the details of how the illness made home within us; the nature of the disease or how the unfortunate incident happened; and we recall its onset and follow- up-procedure vividly. Our personal distress is so great, that at the slightest suffering, we pour it into the ears of anyone and everyone, who is willing to listen to the recital of our ordeal, over and over again. After all could anything be greater than our duress and pain! Could the other person actually relate with the intensity and severity of our suffering? We wonder, and then convince ourselves that he most probably could not as he had not experienced it. But we feel a sense of peace and lighter mentally, as we have shared our problem with other people. It doesn’t matter to us if we have increased their stress by pouring out our anguish to them. They express their sympathy and do everything possible to make us feel better and livelier. But then, till when will we depend on their pity and empathy to feel better? We need to battle out our fears and worries ourselves, and emerge victorious.”

“Is it possible for us to outgrow this weakness? Do we really need to wear our pain on our sleeve and display it to one and all incessantly. What do we truly gain by doing so? Will we get better only by earning their sympathy and seeing a look of compassion in their eyes? Do we spare one precious moment to pause and think of the unecessary unhappiness that we could be causing our sympathizers? Have we ever tried to understand the deeper, hidden, underlyind meaning behind our ‘kasht’ – problem and suffering? Is it possible that God could have chosen us for the beautiful purpose of staying connected with Him and remembering Him through our suffering? What if the unbearable pain being experienced by us is enabling us to reduce the baggage of our previous bad ‘karma’ – ‘humare purva janmon ke kasht kat rahein honge’. ‘ Hum chote se chote kasht ko itna bada bana de tey hain ki hum swayam usi mein kho jaatey hain’. We give such importance to the most insignificant physical suffering that we are more than willing to drown in the waves of pain that engulf our physical being. Shouldn’t we make ourselves stronger and test our endurance power without making a big hullabaloo about our suffering?”

“It is possible only for a ‘sachcha sant’ – a self realized ‘guru’- to rise above the shackles of the ‘state’ and suffering of his gross body. Only he can disassociate himself totally from ‘it’ – as he understands that ‘He’ is not the ‘body” – and welcomes with his head bowed and arms opened, every opportunity, painful or painless, that will further enhance the possibility of cleansing his soul and awakening ‘him’ in the ‘true’ sense as He realizes that he is being shepherded closer to God. Oblivious and undeterred by his physical state, a true saint will shoulder his responsibilities selflessly and perform His duties towards society and His devotees uncomplainingly; without as much as mentioning a word about the good that he has done for those who seek His Grace. Can he curse his fate, bemoan and lament the fact that he is suffering the way he is?
He ‘suffers’ in silence, quietly; without paying any heed to his ‘kaaran shareer’ as that form doesn’t hold any relevance for Him. There is no one with whom He can share pain. At times, a guru’s vital organs might not be functioning adequately , but the power bestowed on him by His Creator, empowers him to ensure the revival of a failing organ of His ‘sachcha bhakt’ – a true devotee – and to rescue him from the jaws of death in time.
After all, His soul too resides in a human body! The vital difference between Him and others is that He, unlike others, has conquered his senses and trained his physical being to rise above pain or pleasure; to accept all that comes His way as His Master’s will and blessings, and above all has taught Himself to smile through his pain.”