It is beautiful to earn pain || On Advait Vedanta (2019)

ਜਤਨ ਬਹੁਤ ਸੁਖ ਕੇ ਕੀਏ ਦੁਖ ਕੋ ਕੀਓ ਨ ਕੋਇ ॥ ਕਹੁ ਨਾਨਕ ਸੁਨਿ ਰੇ ਮਨਾ ਹਰਿ ਭਾਵੈ ਸੋ ਹੋਇ ॥੩੯॥

jatan bahut sukh kay kee-ay dukh ko kee-o na ko-ay kaho naanak sun ray manaa har bhaavai so ho-ay

People make all sorts of efforts to find peace and pleasure, but no one tries to earn pain. Says Nanak, listen, mind: whatever pleases God comes to pass.

~ Guru Granth Sahib 1428-11, Salok Mahala 9-39

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Questioner: What does Guru Tegh Bahadur mean by earning pain?

Acharya Prashant: The constitution of the body is such that it is pleasure-seeking. That’s the guiding principle behind bodily actions. Bodily actions include the impulses of the brain. So, that which you call as natural, in loose language, is nothing but pleasure-seeking behavior. When you say something is natural, effectively what you’re saying is that it is pleasure-seeking behavior.

So, that’s how your system is. It wants to have pleasure. What is the definition of pleasure? That which helps Prakriti (physical nature) further its agenda. Food pleases you because it gives energy to the body to continue. That’s what Prakriti wants. Flattery pleases you because it gives the subtle body the energy to continue; it will continue, it will stay motivated, it will further its goals. You get the definition of pleasure? That which agrees with the agenda of your physical constitution is called pleasure.

Now, in getting that pleasure, you get pain as well, and that pain makes pleasure even more necessary. So, you earned two units of pleasure, and along with two units of pressure you also got two units of pain. What is the inference that your system draws from this? Two units of pleasure is not sufficient, because two units of pleasure came along with two units of pain, and it got nullified, the net was zero. So, now your system wants three units of pleasure. But very soon the system discovers that three units of pleasure has come along with three units of pain, so now you want four units of pleasure.

That’s the cycle of human life—chasing pleasure, getting pain, and pain spurs you on to chase pleasure even more. This is not pain that you have earned; this is pain that has come as a bonus. What did you want? Pleasure—but pain came tagged along. Had you had a choice, you would have said, “I want only pleasure, let’s untag the pain. I don’t want the pain that comes with pleasure, I only want pleasure. Can we just separate the two? No, I don’t want a combo. No, I don’t want the one plus one offer. I only want the one that I want—pleasure.”

So, we get pain without earning it or wanting it or choosing it. We get it as a compulsory attachment, we get it as a compulsory accompaniment of pleasure.

Guru Sahib is talking of something different here. He is talking of earning pain. He is saying, “You already have had enough pain. That pain came to you as a compulsion, as helplessness. You didn’t want it, but you were subjected to it. Now, can you willingly go for pain?” What does he mean? He means something quite radical.

Your system is designed to go only for pleasure. And if you have been told to go deliberately for pain, you are actually being told to go against your system. In a practical way, he is teaching you a method of detachment, a way to get disidentified with the body: deliberately go for pain. And this has been a method in India and elsewhere since long. Spiritual practitioners, those who have really wanted to know and live life fully, have invited pain. Knowing fully well that the road they are taking would hurt them, they have still gone down those roads.

I repeat, to the common man pain is incidental, uninvited; it comes as a surprise. “Oh! Pain has come—from where? I didn’t ask for it!” To the spiritual practitioner, pain is almost a target. Pain is a value. He says, “I want it. Bring it on!” Not that there is some great virtue in pain; it’s just that when you are going for pain, you are denying the bodily compulsion of seeking pleasure, you are getting disidentified. And once you are disidentified, there is no need to seek pain either.

If you will see, a lot of progress, even in the material sense, happens only by inviting pain. That which we call as discipline, even in the loose sense, is nothing but an invitation to pain. Is there discipline without pain? You have to get up at some point in the morning—doesn’t that involve pain? Pleasure is to keep sleeping even after the alarm has rung. Is that not pleasurable?

So, all discipline is nothing but pain. It’s very well directed pain, it’s very discreet pain, but nevertheless, all discipline involves pain. And progress, be it in the material or in the spiritual realm, depends on discipline. So, all progress is nothing but the art of inflicting pain upon yourself—wisely, not randomly. You will get no progress by just slashing your wrist or holding a cigarette to your arm. Random or mindless pain will not help you. While random and mindless pain will not help you, at the same time, there can be no discipline without pain, and there can be no progress without discipline.

Pleasure is a pattern. In fact, all patterns become patterns of pleasure. Discipline is the determination to go beyond patterns. So, pleasure has to be transcended, which means your body, your prakriti , your physical tendencies have to be transcended. That’s what Guru Sahib is pointing at.

Have discipline. And what is it to have discipline? Be a disciple, be a śiṣya . Be a Sikh. Who is a Sikh? He who can wisely, discreetly, deliberately choose pain. You cannot be a student if you cannot bear pain. You cannot be a student if you say, “I want to be handled in cotton and wool, I want to learn a lot from the teacher, but I don’t want pain from the teacher.” Then you cannot be a Sikh, you cannot be a śiṣya , you cannot be a disciple, because you do not have discipline.

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