Suffering of all kinds, big or small, grave or mild, exasperates us. It confuses and humbles us, more often than not. Our otherwise brave, strong shoulders droop from the burden of a hard life, which often gets harder, despite our efforts. We often sigh, grudge and acknowledge our lack of control. Why all this pain, we often wonder. We plan our lives omitting any possibility of suffering, but it comes around slyly and knocks on our doors harder than ever. Like an uninvited guest in the middle of the night. It seems to always makes its appearance, no wonder how clever our stratagems. We sigh in mild exasperation sometimes and scream full throttle at others.
Why? How? You were not supposed to be here. Why are you! We are often fuming from disappointment and overwhelm. It seems suffering follows us like a faithful old dog, tailing us, no matter which path we cleverly take.
What is suffering? Why does it so doggedly pursue us?
In the Yogic paradigm, human suffering has been categorised in five basic ways:
- Wrong cognition – Avidya
- Identity structure – Ahamkara
- Attachment – Raga
- Revulsion- Dvesha
- Fear of death – Abhinivesha
Let us understand each of these causes of suffering in more detail.
