“No one can cause mental pain to you. It is you – in reaction to something that happens around you.”- Sadhguru
Many of us create mental projections about situations which may or may not happen, and we may spend hours, if not days, thinking about how that situation would or could cause us distress. Many of us may also at times agonize over how someone wronged us in the past, and then we make it worse by reliving the situation time and again.
In this video, responding to a question about pain, Sadhguru looks at the mechanics of physical and mental pain and why we must stop romanticizing pain. He shares a parable about a Greek Bishop seeking answers about life from an Indian mystic. Through this story, Sadhguru emphasizes how mental pain has roots in our minds being uncooperative, not taking instructions from us. When we are in control of our minds, we can spare ourselves much agony.
Sadhguru: “This happened in 1924. There was a bishop in the Greek Orthodox community in Istanbul. Being on the Silk Route from India, many mystical stories of Yogis, and mystics, and miraculous things have been wafting across the Bosphorus for centuries. So, always this bishop has been wanting to go to India and meet a mystic or a Yogi. Well, it never happened because being a man of cloth, he could not decide where he goes. But after he semi-retired, he got an opportunity to go to Southern India. He came to Southern India, and he wants to meet a genuine Yogi. So, somebody directed him, “If you go up the mountain like this, in front of this cave, there is a Yogi. He will be there, you can meet him. He is the right man for you to meet.””
“So, our man set forth on the mountain. Mountains are not kind to people, you know? Unless you keep yourself well, they’re not kind to you at all. So, he huffed and puffed, and went up. And he saw the Yogi sitting there, totally blissed out, eyes closed. People had told him, “If you see an Indian Yogi, you have to prostrate.” But his physical form wouldn’t allow that. With great difficulty he went down, and in great commotion he was getting up. Hearing all this commotion, the Yogi opened his eyes and smiled.”
“So the bishop asked, “Can I ask you a question?” The Yogi said, “By all means.” So he asked, “What is life?” The Yogi went into raptures and said, “Life is like the fragrance of jasmine upon the spring breeze.” The man blinked, “What? Life – fragrance of jasmine upon gentle spring breeze? But my teacher told me life is like a thorn. Once it gets into you, if you sit, it hurts; if you stand, it hurts; if you lie down, it hurts. And you are saying, life is like the fragrance of a jasmine upon gentle spring breeze. How is this?” he asked. The Yogi smiled and said, “Well, that’s his life.””
Sadhguru: “So, physical pain… there’s physical pain, and mental pain. Unless there is grievous injury or an ailment, generally there is not much physical pain. It happens off and on, here and there, but not much. Human beings go through, largely, mental pain. If physical pain happens, we just have to distance ourselves. So, if we sit here, something pokes us, we don’t sit there again, we sit elsewhere. Physical pain we know how to dodge, unless we are in a war zone, or some other violent situation.”
“So, physical pain we know how to handle, unless it goes beyond a certain point. It is the mental pain that you’re talking about. Pain or pleasure within you happens only from within you, isn’t it so? Hmm? At least what happens from within you, must happen the way you want it, isn’t it? No? What happens in the world – see, we cannot control it. What happens within you must happen the way you want it, isn’t it? If your mind took instructions from you, would you cause pain or joy for yourself? What would you cause?”
“Joy, of course. So, the problem is not about pain. The problem is, you have a complex computer, all right? But you’ve not read the user’s manual, that’s the whole problem. If your mind took instructions from you, for sure you would keep yourself in the highest level of pleasantness. Yes? What is your choice for yourself? Highest level of pleasantness – at least for yourself. What you want for your neighbor may be debatable, but… what you want for yourself is very clear, isn’t it? It’s not happening not because of some… something gone wrong in your life.”
How The Mind Can Overcome Pain | Sadhguru – YouTube
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