Pleasure
and Pain
Let us pass again from
that to another statement made by this great teacher of Yoga: "Pentads
are of two kinds, painful and non-painful." Why did he not
say: "painful and pleasant"? Because he was an accurate
thinker, a logical thinker, and he uses the logical division that
includes the whole universe of discourse, A
and Not-A, painful and non-painful. There has been much controversy
among psychologists as to a third kind --indifferent. Some psychologists
divide all feelings into three: painful, pleasant and indifferent.
Feelings cannot be divided merely into pain and pleasure, there
is a third class, called indifference, which is neither painful
nor pleasant. Other psychologists say that indifference is merely
pain or pleasure that is not marked enough to be called the one
or the other. Now this controversy and tangle into which psychologists
have fallen might be avoided if the primary division of feelings
were a logical division. A and Not-A--that is the only true and
logical division. Patanjali is absolutely logical and right. In
order to avoid the quicksand into which the modern psychologists
have fallen, he divides all vrittis, modes of mind, into painful
and nonpainful.
There is, however, a
psychological reason why we should say "pleasure and pain,"
although it is not a logical division. The reason why there should
be that classification is that the word pleasure and the word pain
express two fundamental states of difference, not in the Self, but
in the vehicles in which that Self dwells. The Self, being by nature
unlimited, is ever pressing, so to say, against any boundaries which
seek to limit him. When these limitations give way a little before
the constant pressure of the Self, we feel "pleasure,"
and when they resist or contract, we feel "pain".
They are not states of
the Self so much as states of the vehicles, and states of certain
changes in consciousness. Pleasure and pain belong to the Self as
a whole, and not to any aspect of the Self separately taken. When
pleasure and pain are marked off as belonging only to the desire
nature, the objection arises: "Well, but in the exercise of
the cognitive faculty there is an intense pleasure. When you use
the creative faculty of the mind you are conscious of a profound
joy in its exercise, and yet that creative faculty can by no means
be classed with desire." The answer is: "Pleasure belongs
to the Self as a whole. Where the vehicles yield themselves to the
Self, and permit it to 'expand' as is its eternal nature, then what
is called pleasure is felt." It has been rightly said: "Pleasure
is a sense of moreness." Every time you feel pleasure, you
will find the word "moreness" covers the case. It will
cover the lowest condition of pleasure, the pleasure of eating.
You are becoming more by appropriating to yourself a part of the
Not-Self, food. You will find it true of the highest condition of
bliss, union with the Supreme. You become more by expanding yourself
to His infinity. When you have a phrase that can be applied to the
lowest and highest with which you are dealing, you may be fairly
sure it is all-inclusive, and that, therefore, "pleasure is
moreness" is a true statement. Similarly, pain is "lessness".
If you understand these
things your philosophy of life will become more practical, and you
will be able to help more effectively people who fall into evil
ways. Take drink. The real attraction of drinking lies in the fact
that, in the first stages of it, a more keen and vivid life is felt.
That stage is overstepped in the case of the man who gets drunk,
and then the attraction ceases. The attraction lies in the first
stages, and many people have experienced that, who would never dream
of becoming drunk. Watch people who are taking wine and see how
much more lively and talkative they become. There lies the attraction,
the danger.
The real attraction in
most coarse forms of excess is that they give an added sense of
life, and you will never be able to redeem a man from his excess
unless you know why he does it. Understanding the attractiveness
of the first step, the increase of life, then you will be able to
put your finger on the point of temptation, and meet that in your
argument with him. So that this sort of mental analysis is not only
interesting, but practically useful to every helper of mankind.
The more you know, the greater is your power to help.
The next question that
arises is: "Why does he not divide all feelings into pleasurable
and not-pleasurable, rather than into 'painful and not-painful'?"
A Westerner will not be at a loss to answer that: "Oh, the
Hindu is naturally so very pessimistic, that he naturally ignores
pleasure and speaks of painful and not-painful. The universe is
full of pain." But that would not be a true answer. In the
first place the Hindu is not pessimistic.
He is the most optimistic of men. He has not got one solitary school
of philosophy that does not put in its foreground that the object
of all philosophy is to put an end to pain. But he is profoundly
reasonable. He knows that we need not go about seeking happiness.
It is already ours, for it is the essence of our own nature. Do
not the Upanishads say: "The Self is bliss"? Happiness
exists perennially within you. It is your normal state. You have
not to seek it. You will necessarily be happy if you get rid of
the obstacles called pain, which are in the modes of mind. Happiness
is not a secondary thing, but pain is, and these painful things
are obstacles to be got rid of. When they are stopped, you must
be happy. Therefore Patanjali says: "The vrittis are painful
and non-painful." Pain is an excrescence. It is a transitory
thing. The Self, who is bliss, being the all-permeating life of
the universe, pain has no permanent place in it. Such is the Hindu
position, the most optimistic in the
world.
Let us pause for a moment
to ask: "Why should there be pain at all if the Self is bliss?"
Just because the nature of the Self is bliss. It would be impossible
to make the Self turn outward, come into manifestation, if only
streams of bliss flowed in on him. He would have remained unconscious
of the streams. To the infinity
of bliss nothing could be added. If you had a stream of water flowing
unimpeded in its course, pouring more water into it would cause
no ruffling, the stream would go on heedless of the addition. But
put an obstacle in the way, so that the free flow is checked, and
the stream will struggle and fume against the obstacle, and make
every endeavour to sweep it away. That which is contrary to it,
that which will check its current's smooth
flow, that alone will cause effort. That is the first function of
pain. It is the only thing that can rouse the Self. It is the only
thing that can awaken his attention. When that peaceful, happy,
dreaming, inturned Self finds the surge of pain beating against
him, he awakens: "What is this, contrary to my nature, antagonistic
and repulsive, what is this?" It arouses him to the fact of
a surrounding universe, an outer world. Hence in psychology, in
yoga, always basing itself on the ultimate analysis of the fact
of nature, pain is the thing that asserts itself as the most important
factor in Self-realisation; that which is other than the Self will
best spur the Self into activity. Therefore we find our commentator,
when dealing with pain, declares that the karmic receptacle the
causal body, that in which all the seeds of karma are gathered Up,
has for its builder all painful experiences; and along that line
of thought we come to the great generalisation: the first function
of pain
in the universe is to arouse the Self to turn himself to the outer
world, to evoke his aspect of activity.
The next function of
pain is the organisation of the vehicles. Pain makes the man exert
himself, and by that exertion the matter of his vehicles gradually
becomes organised. If you want to develop and organise your muscles,
you make efforts, you exercise them, and thus more life flows into
them and they become strong.
Pain is necessary that the Self may force his vehicles into making
efforts which develop and organise them. Thus pain not only awakens
awareness, it also organises the vehicles.
It has a third function
also. Pain purifies. We try to get rid of that which causes us pain.
It is contrary to our nature, and we endeavour to throw it away.
All that is against the blissful nature of the Self is shaken by
pain out of the vehicles; slowly they become purified by suffering,
and in that way become ready for the handling of the Self.
It has a fourth function.
Pain teaches. All the best lessons of life come from pain rather
than from joy. When one is becoming old, as I am and I look on the
long life behind me, a life of storm and stress, of difficulties
and efforts, I see something of the great lessons pain can teach.
Out of my life story could efface without regret everything that
it has had of joy and happiness, but not one pain would I let go,
for pain is the teacher of wisdom.
It has a fifth function.
Pain gives power. Edward Carpenter said, in his splendid poem of
"Time and Satan," after he had described the wrestlings
and the overthrows: 'Every pain that I suffered in one body became
a power which I wielded in the next." Power is pain transmuted.
Hence the wise man, knowing
these things, does not shrink from pain; it means purification,
wisdom, power.
It is true that a man
may suffer so much pain that for this incarnation he may be numbed
by it, rendered wholly or partially useless. Especially is this
the case when the pain has deluged in childhood. But even then,
he shall reap his harvest of good later. By his past, he may have
rendered present pain inevitable, but none the less can he turn
it into a golden opportunity by knowing and utilising its functions.
You may say: "What
use then of pleasure, if pain is so splendid a thing?" From
pleasure comes illumination. Pleasure enables the Self to manifest.
In pleasure all the vehicles of the Self are made harrnonious; they
all vibrate together; the vibrations are rhythmical, not jangled
as they are in pain, and those rhythmical vibrations permit that
expansion of the Self of which I spoke, and thus lead up to illumination,
the knowledge of the Self. And if that be true, as it is true, you
will see that pleasure plays an immense part in nature, being of
the nature of the Self, belonging to him. When it harmonises the
vehicles of the Self from outside, it enables the Self more readily
to manifest himself through the lower selves within us. Hence happiness
is a condition of illumination. That is the explanation of the value
of the rapture of the mystic; it is an intense joy. A tremendous
wave of bliss, born of love triumphant, sweeps over the whole of
his being, and when that great wave of bliss sweeps over him, it
harmonises the whole of his vehicles, subtle and gross alike, and
the glory of the Self is made manifest and he sees the face of his
God. Then comes the wonderful illumination, which for the time makes
him unconscious of all the lower worlds.
It is because for a moment
the Self is realising himself as divine, that it is possible for
him to see that divinity which is cognate to himself. So you should
not fear joy any more than you fear pain, as some unwise people
do, dwarfed by a mistaken religionism. That foolish thought which
you often find in an ignorant religion, that pleasure is rather
to be dreaded, as though God grudged joy to His children, is one
of the nightmares born of ignorance and terror. The Father of life
is bliss. He who is joy cannot grudge Himself to His children, and
every reflection of joy in the world is a reflection of the Divine
Life, and a manifestation of the Self in the midst of matter. Hence
pleasure has its function as well as pain and that also is welcome
to the wise, for he understands and utilises it. You can easily
see how along this line pleasure and pain become equally welcome.
Identified with neither, the wise man takes either as it comes,
knowing its purpose. When we understand the places of joy and of
pain, then both lose their power to bind or to upset us. If pain
comes, we take it and utilise it. If joy comes, we take it and utilise
it.
So we may pass through
life, welcoming both pleasure and pain, content whichever may come
to us, and not wishing for that which is for the moment absent.
We use both as means to a desired end; and thus we may rise to a
higher indifference than that of the stoic, to the true vairagya;
both pleasure and pain are transcended, and the Self remains, who
is bliss.
Recommended Links:
This Olympian Labs DIM will surely be loved by men and women. Learn more the Olympians Labs products highlights and find best deal for you.
Try Douglas labs vitamins and see the difference! Find out how Douglas Labs products are formulated and how it works.
Facts about Kate Spade Diaper Bag Outlet are unveiled here. It allows you to admire Kate Spade Diaper Bag just like other women out there.
Attract many girls with these Armani sunglasses for men for they will definitely make you look great! There are wide selection of Armani sunglasses and you will find one to your preference.
Discover the Apple cider vinegar tablets benefits to enhance your health. Try Apple cider vinegar tablets and you will love it too!