Question : What does Babuji means when says -
“When pain passes the limits of intensity, it becomes its own cure.” Excerpt From Complete Works of Ram Chandra Volume II Ram Chandra
SK: Your question made me really think deep into the aspects of pain and what Babuji might mean when he says Pain.
When mother gives birth to the child she undergoes enormous physical pain and mental agony. I always wondered why nature created such a system. You see there is always deep churn before something profound comes out.
In human life pain is of three levels.
Physical pain - When any body part goes through trauma we feel pain. Even this pain, is a protection mechanism in the body. Initial adaptive response could be life saving but if this persists could be harmful. Physical pain is unavoidable in life, as the body decays goes through illness.
One important thing to note is physical pain is an indication some issue in the body, so that externally we can resolve it through proper medical attention.
Mental pain- we call this suffering. Suffering is only at the mental level, it can cause deep impressions. So many things in our life can cause suffering. Just like how body is reacting to the trauma, here it is the mental reaction to the situation. Since it is a mental reaction, it is pretty much in our control to what extent we can and we should react. That is why suffering is a choice. If this adaptive response to the pain(suffering) prolongs is a problem. It does not matter what situation caused it. Suffering leads to so many things, mind gets stuck with only one aspect. That is also called depression. During this phase one is going through the same thought, going over the same situation again and again. Life never stops for anyone or anything, but here the mind is stuck. We all know we should not be stuck like this, we want to get out of it. It says let go, but we cannot let go.
We always get this advice "ACCEPT" or SURRENDER ? But how? How can we overcome sufferring?
The challenge is as soon as this suffering starts we are trying to get out of it. The more we try to get out of it, it tightens and prolongs. Instead the right thing to do is let it exhaust, let it take its own course. Just assume as if you are observing someone else suffering, and just become a witness, as if you became one with the master and witnessing it. This act puts us above our mental situation. This gives us the ability to make prudent decisions. Then we can decide whether we need to let it go (flight) or fight it out. We should exhaust the suffering fast so that we are ready for the next one. That is how life should progress.
If there are problems at office we either try to defend or we leave the workplace for another job, here the flight option seems the right thing to do.
If our own children or parents make mistakes we seem to show compassion, and look for the reasons why they might have made those mistakes. We are ready to wait for them to correct their lives, we offer all our support and prayers. But we don't disown them. But if it comes to spouses we don't seem to extend the same compassion. In case of spouses we are ready to disown over big or small differences.
In every relationship human is trying to have power over the the other person. That is the cause for most of the problems of life.
One lady came for a sitting, she was very sad and told me, her 11 year old son passed away and she is in lot of pain. I asked her what do you expect from meditation and she said i want my pain to go away and i am taking lot of medicines to avoid this pain. I told her there is no medicine or meditation can get you out of your pain. But only advice i can offer you is please do not think of avoiding this pain. Let the pain consume you, exhaust it completely, then you will start accepting the situation. She reported back to me after a month that she is feeling better after talking to me.
Pain of the soul/at concious level - this is the pain Babuji is referring to.
On the cross Jesus cries out, “Eloi Eloi Lama Sabachthani,” - “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Though on the cross Jesus is going through enormous physical pain, he realized that he is separated from the GOD, that caused the soul churning pain, and he cries out loud. At that moment I would say he became Jesus the Christ( the anointed one, the messiah). His pain did not know any boundaries, he could not bare that separation. His soul longed to be with his beloved. This is the pain that brought him to his beloved, his father in heaven. His awareness became one with the Supreme God. You see the pain of separation, when it crosses its limits of intensity becomes the cure which means brings that TRUE mergence.
Babuji expressed the simliar pain in his article "MY PAIN".
In our meditation it brings us closer to this higher essence, but when we come out our soul intensely long for this closeness again. That is what creates remembrance. If this longing intensifies it becomes constant remembrance, constant craving. Any craving is satisfied as soon as the need is fullfilled. In constant craving we are not so easily satisfied until the total awareness of the self dissappears.
Chariji used to quote a ghazal by Jagjit singh, where my heart is closer to you but even that small separation is unbearable. This the kind of pain we realize when we truly acknowledge the higher presence due by the grace of the master. Here the separation is truly between our state and the state of the master who merges with us through transmission. This creates craving and longing to be in that state again and again. It's a never quenching thirst.
Often we complain nothing is changing though i have been meditating for 20 year or 30 years, because we are only looking to lull our mind in meditation but not observing this shift where we experience the total presence of the essence. This also happens because we are caught up in our own suffering and use meditation as an escape mechanism.