What is Duḥkha?

Questioner: What is Duḥkha ?

Acharya Prashant: The thought, the desire of all that which is fleeting, ephemeral is Duḥkha . Why is it Duḥkha ? To whom, is it Duḥkha ? Few things have to be understood. Everything likes to be in its most stress-free state. That's what even material wants; to be in the most relaxed state possible. Given the suitable condition, everything in the universe wants to move towards its most relaxed, lowest agitation, lowest energy state, and that is what is called its natural state. Something that is not in its natural state will be unstable. Being unstable it will want to do things that can relieve it of its energy, or it will want to use the environment around itself to be relieved of its excess energy which in itself is stress.

So, a system or an object which is possessed of excessive energy or tension tends to react with the environment. It wants to react with the environment precisely with the intention to give up the stress that it has, and settle down into a stable state. That's what consciousness also does. Its most stable state is energy-less and inert, totally non-reactive, totally at rest and at peace.

But somehow if it is not in its peaceful and restful state, then it will look around, to react with something or somebody in its vicinity, so that it may come to stability and rest. If the reaction is right and suitable then consciousness will be relieved of its excess tension. But if the reaction is with an improper or unsuitable object, then instead of the tension being relieved, the tension will increase, multiply. This tension itself is Duḥkha . What is the fundamental tension that consciousness has? The fundamental tension that it has is existence itself. "Why do I exist? Why do I exist as I appear to exist? I exist in bodily confinement", that's how man's consciousness is, right? Bodily. "Why do I exist in a bodily way? Why do I exist in a temporal way, why am I spatially limited, why do I forget things, why can't I know fully?" This is what the innate tension of consciousness is, "Why am I so limited?"

Now because of this tension consciousness wants to react with stuff around itself, stuff in its purview, stuff in its sensory purview. But all the stuff that is there in the sensory purview of consciousness carries the same properties that the consciousness is so stressed of. Consciousness is saying, “But why am I confined in a bodily cage? Why can't I know everything insightfully? Why do I look at reality through a spatial-temporal prism?” And what does consciousness see around itself? Entities that are limited, confined as much in bondage as consciousness itself is, right?

There is nothing around the self that exists at a higher platform compared to the self. But the self has to seek relief, it cannot remain inert or patient as it is. How is the self, the consciousness feeling about itself? It is feeling disgusted and sick about itself, right? So given its state, it has to do something. How does it do? It starts seeking the help of stuff around itself that is as sick as or, probably, even more sick than itself. Are you getting it?

You are confined within this hall, right? And you have a strong stomach-ache. There are five-six other people here, and you can see that they all have their own various sicknesses. They are groaning, moaning, crying, yelling, some are rolling on the floor, clasping their stomachs, you can see that they are in no better position than you. But you are in need of help, what do you do? After a while, your patience runs out, and you go to one of these people and start engaging them. You start offering to help him and you start expecting help from him.

This is what the Upaniṣad is calling as, Duḥkha . You are sick and tired of your worldly existence, and your sickness and tiredness forces you deeper into the recesses of the world, this is Duḥkha . Are you getting it? You are tired of being what you have become, and you are engaging and affiliating with beings that are at the same level of becoming as you are, that is Duḥkha or sorrow.

So, objects of mundane existence, " Ātmana rūpaḥ ". Things that are non-self, things that are non-truth, things that are ephemeral, things that will deceive, stuff that will simply not live up to your expectations, thinking of them, desiring them, targeting them, associating with them, that is Duḥkha .

As they say, “ Duḥkha is like trying to douse the fire with oil”. Why? Because you cannot spot water. Because I cannot find water in my vicinity, so what do I do? I start using whatever I can lay my hands on, after all, I am burning, I am burning so I need something, clear?

Suḥkha is to be free of the need, to look around for relief. Duḥkha is to look around for relief and invite more trouble. The idea that you are not alright.

See, the highest thing, the best thing is to not at all have the idea that you are in trouble. The second-best thing, if you at all have the idea that you are in trouble, is to find something or somebody, who will show you that you are not in trouble. The worst thing is to believe that you are in trouble and be in the company of people who attest that you are in trouble; thereby they make you believe in your trouble all the more. And then, they provide solutions to your trouble, and such solutions only further exacerbate your trouble. The best thing is, probably impossible to happen on its own, to simply drop the idea that you are a troubled consciousness.

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