Suffering invokes freedom, Suffering brings Truth || Acharya Prashant, on Guru Kabir (2019)

Do listen to your slave’s prayer and relieve me of my agony. Says Kabir—I shall doubtless get my Lord and sing the auspicious song of love in chorus with Him.

~ Kabir

Questioner: In this song, Kabir yearns for union with God desperately; he says he is in agony. On the other hand, he also says that he is doubtless. How can these two coexist? How can Kabir be doubtless?

Acharya Prashant: This doubtlessness is the hallmark of love. What is love? These two things together: knowing fully well that there is separation, and knowing fully well that separation is false and, therefore, separation has to go. That is the state of the lover. That is the state of the singer or the seeker. How is there doubtlessness? Because of suffering; because of the fact of suffering.

So, the two facts that you talked of are not in opposition to each other; in fact, they complement each other. First thing you talked of was the acknowledgement of suffering—the yearning, the agony; and the second thing you talked of was the utter assurance that union is inevitable. It is because of the first that the second is there. You will ask, “How?” When suffering is so very heavy, pronounced, then your honesty makes it very important, mandatory upon you to get rid of that suffering.