Suffering is the Signboard - Eknath Easwaran

One of the most distressing facts of life is that most of us do not learn without a certain measure of suffering. The question we must ask is whether we prefer to be stunted or to suffer some distress and grow up. Suffering in life comes as an enemy only when we do not know how to receive it as a friend. We can either benefit from suffering to improve our health and security, or we can become frustrated and embittered because we cannot change our ways of living under the impact of pain.

Several days ago, I went with a friend to a restaurant just to see what people are eating. It was one of the better restaurants in the area, yet these educated, cultured people were eating the worst possible kind of food. It always amazes me on such occasions to realize how strong the human system is. It is a wonder that our bodies continue to function; it is only the mercy of the Lord that prevents us from causing ourselves more physical problems than we do. If you want to see how perfect the nervous system can be, look at a sleeping infant, as relaxed as a cat curled up in the sun. Yet thirty-five years or so later, many of us have managed to throw a big spanner into the machinery of the body. Tension, high blood pressure, chronic headaches, and peptic ulcers don’t arise overnight; these are problems we slowly develop by making ill-considered decisions day after day, year after year.

Suffering is like the red signboard on the freeway: "Go Back; you’re going the Wrong Way." The first time I saw this sign, I thought the freeway designers had borrowed a slogan from the Gita; it has the practical touch of Sri Krishna. First the Lord puts up a little sign saying "Pain Ahead," but we continue on our way. Then He puts up another, bigger sign, "Turmoil Coming," but still we don’t pay attention. Finally, he sets an enormous blockade. Most of us do not know how to respond, and instead of putting on the brakes we step on the gas. Then we wonder why we crash.

© "The Vision" (May, 2002) published by Anandashram, Kanhangad, Kerala, India 671 531. Website: www.anandashram.org. Reprinted with permission.

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