Overcoming hurt

Who got hurt? The little ‘I-sense’ (Ego). It is this 'Ahamkara' which feels elation or depression. The ‘Manas’ (mind) acts as a medium of communication & representation of what this Ego gets subjected to. It is not the mind itself which goes through happiness or sorrow. It is one’s sense of ‘Aham’ or I-ness.

Man is the Atman (pure soul). The Manas (mind), Buddhi (intellect), Chitta (consciousness) and Ahamkara (I-ness or Ego) are not the real us. These are external to us. They are ultimately unreal and disappear upon death. Just as the clothes one wears are external, these are external to the Atman. It is this false assumption of taking the Ego as real, as the real I-ness that is the cause of all suffering. It is the cause of birth and death. 'Maya' (illusion) makes the Ego appear real. The Atman or the true 'I' is beyond these things and completely out of the picture. It is a part of the infinite Lord. There is no I-ness in reality, HE alone being real.

Do we feel hurt if someone rebukes or insults a piece of rock? We do not because the rock is not us. There is no more difference between a piece of rock and this 'Ahamkara' (Ego) in terms of belonging. Just as the rock is external to us and not a part of us, this I-ness which feels respect or disrespect is external to us and not us. Keeping this in mind, the wise do not beam with happiness at respect or get insulted further to disrespect.

The wise stay fixed to their state of Atman, internally calm and unaffected at the harshness or softness shown by others on this unreal Ego. “Why worry when it is this body, mind or Ego which is being subjected to some kind of treatment, painful or pleasurable? I am the infinite Atman and not the Ego. Let people do what they want out of their ignorance. I will not loose my composure” – This is how one should remind oneself of one’s real Atmic state and stay calm with effort.

When such efforts at ‘Vairagya’ (dispassion) are applied over a period of many years on this body, mind and Ego with a Yogic lifestyle and Brahmacharya, one gradually starts to overcome this false sense of elation or depression that the Ego experiences further to worldly interactions and happenings. Then one internally smiles at praise or ridicule thinking – “It is the Ego which is being praised or insulted and not me the Atman. I, the Atman am beyond such susceptibility, being infinite and above suffering”.

This is real ‘Vairagya’ (dispassion) and not merely desisting from the sense objects. When such dispassion builds, the Yogi slowly loses the urge to lust after the senses as the question –“Sense pleasure concerns the body, mind or the Ego and I am none of these. So why waste energy?” arises. Then he starts losing interest in pampering the senses. On a parallel, when much time is spent in meditation which eventually leads to ‘Samadhi’ (super-consciousness), one starts to experience the bliss of the Atman or one’s true self. This bliss is indescribable and sense pleasure then appears stale and rotten. This produces more detachment from sense experience and to how the world treats oneself. One does not bother about the world or its behavior but stays calm, wishing good to all.

ॐ तत् सत्
(That Supreme being is the absolute truth)