What Exactly Is the Root Source of Sorrow/strife?
its life without quenching its thirst. Similarly mankind is running after mirage like sense pleasures for his entire precious lifetime. Ultimately he dies discontented and devoid of satiation. Instead if he had realized that material pleasures are like illusory mirages he would have first tried to realize where he could find absolute eternal bliss and then would have made necessary efforts to attain it. It is in this sense that material pleasures are called illusory and fleeting like dessert mirages. True bliss lies not in amassing material pleasures but lies in the eternal bliss of the salvation. One should intensely work hard to attain true salvation since it is the true goal of all human lives.
Thus it is clear that sorrow after all is sorrow because material joy ultimately results in anguish only. It is only when the burning desire for fleeting material pleasures is overcome that eternal divine bliss can be attained. Hence the important question asked is: How does one attain this eternal bliss? An Indian scripture called YOGAVASISHTHA gives the answer:
“JNAANAANNIRDUKHATAAMAYTEE
JNAANAADANAANA SANKSHAYA.
JNAANAADEVA PARAASIDHIR
NAANYASYAADRAAM VASTUTAHA.”
MEANING: O Rama! Only divine wisdom can ward off all sorrow. Divine wisdom destroys spiritual ignorance. Divine wisdom leads us to or ultimate goal of life. There is no other way to do so.
Further elaboration says:
“PRAJNAAM VIJNAATA VIJNAYAM
SAMYAGA DARSHAN MAADHAYAHA.
NA DAHANTI VANAM VARSHAAM
SIKTAMAGNISHIKHAA IVA.”
MEANING: He is a realized saint who knows what is truly to be known with the help of his sacred hindsight (Viveka). Such a saint is never overcome by sorrow just like fire can never burn a forest which is wet with rain water.
WHAT EXACTLY IS DIVINE WISDOM OR TATTVA-JNANA?
At this point before understanding the true nature of divine wisdom it is important to know as to what exactly is the root cause of the manifestation of sorrow and strife? Actually at the root level all creatures are blissful (Ananda) in nature. Thus it is clear that a definite cause exists which creates sorrow, pain, anguish etc. This too has been dealt with in YOGAVASISHTHA:
“DEHA DUKHA VIDURVYAADHI
MAADHYAAKHAM MAANASAAMAYAM.
MAURKHYA MOOLAY HATAY VIDYAA
TATTVAJNAANAY PAREEKSHYAHA.”
MEANING: Bodily pain is called Vyaadhee and mental anguish is called Aaadhee. Both of them are Maurkhya i.e. are created from spiritual ignorance or Ajnaana. Thus they can be destroyed only via spiritual/divine wisdom.
The fundamental cause of all material sorrows of the world put together is none other than spiritual ignorance (Avidya). Just as lack of light results in darkness and vice versa, in the same way lack of divine wisdom leads to spiritual ignorance and vice versa. Divine wisdom helps us attain eternal bliss, peace etc and spiritual ignorance results in pain, sorrow etc.
For eons together it has been proved beyond doubt that sorrow is the creation of ignorance or spiritual darkness. This priceless truth has been accepted by great thinkers, saints, scholars etc of the entire world at all times. In this manner none should doubt this age old truth proclaimed by all great souls of the world. One of them called Chanakya says: There is no other greater foe of mankind apart from spiritual ignorance. The great philosopher Plato says: It is better to remain unborn instead of remaining a spiritually ignorant being because ignorance is the root cause of all our miseries. The great bard of Avon, William Shakespeare writes: Spiritual ignorance is equivalent to darkness.
The root cause of all life’s distortions, sorrowful experiences, problems, discontent etc is spiritual ignorance of man’s psyche. It is the greatest enemy of entire mankind. It is solely due to ignorance that man finds himself in a demeaned/downfallen state like other creatures. Lack of divine wisdom leads to diminishing of ones discriminative faculty (Viveka) and thus our minds remain steeped in sorrow and anguish. Spiritual ignorance induces man to make wrong decisions in life by veiling the true goal of human life. Thus he executes undesirable acts and weaves a net of misery and pain for himself. Thus in order to ward off sorrow if one understands its underlying cause, one can overcome it and thus one can dispel strife and pain lock, stock and barrel in our day to day lives. The result will be bliss and only bliss on a permanent footing. SPIRITUAL IGNORANCE CAN BE DISPELLED ONLY VIA DIVINE WISDOM. COLD CAN BE DESTROYED BY ITS OPPOSITE FIRE ONLY. DARKNESS CAN BE DESTROYED ONLY BY LIGHT. THUS IT IS THE RIGHTEOUS DUTY OF ALL MANKIND TO TREAD ON THAT PATH WHICH AIDS IN