As spoken of by a Guru.

In the world of sorrow,
pain and trouble,
desires go on erupting.
Bear with everything,
This world is a festival
That lasts for a very short time.

God has created all these qualities, joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, for our enjoyment, for our appreciation of both. If you only experienced joy and happiness, you would not know what sorrow is. If your stomach was always full, you would refuse the best of sweets. How pathetic! You are not able to enjoy the delight of a sweet because your stomach is always full. How can one enjoy the quality of joy if one has not experienced sorrow. If one has never gone hungry, how will one enjoy a meal?

It is the excellent planning of God that enables one to experience joy and sorrow. If he had only created joy, the world would have gone crazy. And if he had created sorrow, the world would be full of suicides. It is for this reason that God has made opposites.

Swami Sivananda said,

Pain is the crucible in which Nature puts man whenever she wishes to mould him into a sublime superman.

To become a superman, one has to experience sorrow and not ask God for freedom from sorrow. Grace and blessings come into a person’s life in the form of joy and sorrow.

Going through pain and pleasure

Swamiji was asked by a senior Guru Bhai, “Satyananda, come you do not complain about life.” Swamiji said, “What complaint? “he said that there are diseases and so on. Swamiji replied, “look, when you have an illness, you gain knowledge about your own body—What should be eaten and what should not be eaten. This is a good thing. If you continue to suffer from an upset stomach then you will learn what agrees with your system what does not. Therefore, one should keep one’s mental state and attitude under control while going through pain and pleasure.”

I can only say that if we can understand and appreciate the meaning of joy and sorrow, we are on the spiritual path.

Aim Hrim Klim

Photo by Alice Yamamura on Unsplash