Ask The Master: 03 Jan 2008

Q. You say that the dropping of pain can bring bliss - but bliss too leads to pain when it ceases. How do I make the move from pain to bliss?

What you first need to understand is that pain and bliss are not opposites. Bliss has nothing to do with pain. Pleasure is the opposite of pain - and like all opposites, they have no existence without each other. You are right: you cannot enjoy pleasure without suffering, without pain. It is significant that ancient Indian scriptures used the same word, pain, to imply both pleasure and pain - because pain is the ultimate result of both.

Bliss is that which arises when you drop the ideas of both pleasure and pain. And you have to drop them both together; there is no other way. Bliss is what floods you when both pain and pleasure have ceased to disturb you. Bliss is beyond pain and pleasure. It is perfect harmony, complete inner silence, total peace.

Are you able to understand me?

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Uncommon Answers to Common Questions

Joke Of The Day: 03 Jan 2008

A hurricane was shaking the vicinity, and husband and wife were fast asleep. The wife woke up her husband, “Dear, seems like our house is going to be blown away; you don’t seem to be bothered.” Husband mumbled, “Go back to sleep. In any case, we are only renting it.”

Worries are of different types and of different degrees. We laugh at each other’s worries while the Cosmos laughs at our idea of worrying itself! After all, worry is nothing but a direction for our mind to dwell.

Life Bliss Galleria: 02 Jan 2008

NEW CD RELEASE: "Meditation IS For You (Part 2): Achala Dhyana (Just Sitting)"

Available at Life Bliss Galleria.

Price: $15 "Blissmas" sale! $10

Zazen is a zen method of just sitting. With eyes open but just sitting, Witness the thoughts and with awareness. One day the mind drops. You will glimpse the no mind.

This CD is part of the 18-CD set: "Meditation Is For You" [LINK].

Website Life Bliss Galleria

Phone (909)625-1400

Email shop@lifebliss.org

Ask The Master: 02 Jan 2008

Q. We in India have been brought up on the concept of karma - necessary suffering. Is suffering really essential in our lives?

To start with, it will help to realize that suffering is not a state of life, it is a state of mind. It is not an event in your life - it is your response to some event. Whether you suffer or not in a particular situation depends entirely on your reaction to that situation.

When do you undergo suffering? When you fall ill? When your neighbor gets a new car? When your boyfriend/girlfriend leaves you for someone else?

Well, suppose you decided to just accept these situations without anger or resentment; just as they are, so be it, would you still suffer as much? After all, there is nothing inherently painful about your neighbor getting a new car. Even if there is pain in the moment, as when a loved one leaves, you cannot wish it away. Try to accept - to welcome - the inevitability of the moment, without reaction. It is ONLY your negative response to an experience that allows it to hurt you. Don’t you see? No one or nothing can make you suffer without your silent permission!

Make a habit of witnessing experiences minus your personal judgment. Learn to recognize with clarity the causes of your suffering - the obvious and the subtle. The ability to do this will come - not in a day, but certainly through practice.

One of the most deeply hidden reasons for suffering is that you could be enjoying it! For example, falling ill can become a source of pleasure if it fetches you the attention and care you have been craving for. Examine why it sometimes gives you pleasure to inflict pain on yourself, or on others. Is there a better channel through which you can receive the same pleasure - without the suffering? Become aware - this is the first step.

The second is to accept totally the here and now - without question and without reaction. Awareness with acceptance - this is the only way out of suffering.

The second part of the question - is suffering essential?
Yes, in a way it is, because suffering can be a powerful catalyst to growth. Just like a seed first has to rupture before a plant can grow and blossom, intense suffering can break down the defenses of your ego, leaving you open and vulnerable to existence. With your usual thought patterns shattered, you begin to see things as they actually are. You begin to recognize a subtle distance between you and the pain - that it is not ‘your’ pain, something intrinsic to you.

In fact, pain is simply the response you’ve chosen to that particular situation. And once you see that, how can you suffer anymore? In consciously accepting your pain, you truly let go of it.

Suffering is not necessarily the key to bliss. But if you learn your lesson well, suffering can certainly open your eyes to the unreality of suffering. It can teach you how unnecessary it is to suffer at all. This is what I call ‘necessary suffering’!

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Uncommon Answers to Common Questions