UNAVOIDABLE PAIN VS.MENTAL SUFFERING.

[Pravin Kumar]

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Unavoidable Pain Vs Mental Suffering

A reader asked the difference between
Needless suffering and mental/bodily pain,
Positing that by each and every means,
Of the latter we should avoid the bane.

When given the chance we all avoid pain,
But a certain amount is endemic to life,
However, if correct identification we gain,
As Pure Awareness this causes less strife.

For This is unmoved by thought or sensation,
Just aware of them as they come and go,
Not following them with consternation,
Viewing them as part of life’s ebb and flow.

Ramakrishna, Ramana, Nisargadatta all,
Suffered from cancer causing much bodily pain,
But they did not allow this their joy to pall,
For identified with the body they did not remain.

The death of a loved one naturally gives grief,
And the ‘small self’ can turn this into self-pity,
But when one is awake this can be quite brief,
By not dwelling on the loss indefinitely.

The pain caused by not achieving or ‘leaving one’s mark’,
Is of needless suffering a classic case,
When identified with Pure Awareness there’s no vital task,
Just ‘be here now’, no need to get to ‘next base’.

If someone else annoys or angers you,
This is a precious golden opportunity,
To see whether on self-image you stew,
Or can let it dissolve back into unity.

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A poem based on a chapter of 'The Happiness That Needs Nothing'.

I write (and read) these posts, based on my meditations and contemplations, as much for my own benefit as for that of 'others'. For this helps to keep me 'awake' in this illusory, and impermanent, world ... our perception of which is based purely on our physical, and mental, configuration.

For more poems, articles, photos etc. see the comment on the photos.

COLIN DRAKE