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When you are able to shift your attention from the transitory sukha-duḥkha to the ever-present source, the problem of sukha and duḥkha ceases. Sukha no longer deludes and attracts and duḥkha no more afflicts and repels.

Harih Om Tat Sat. I wonder whether the sukha and duḥkha discussion we had last night as applied by the concepts of sat and asat has clung to your mind and whether you have been thinking and reflecting on it. I would like to continue the discussion for a short while now.

Our purpose is to tackle the mind and redress the troubles and torments it generates. We also want to illumine the intelligence. Our mind is generally engaged in thinking about external objects and their impressions. So, let us give the mind and intelligence something loftier to constantly look into and enquire into.

When the mind and intelligence are occupied subjectively or spiritually like this, that occupation itself will carry us through and to that extent the external allurements will lose their importance. And ultimately you will find that your own mind, instead of depending upon external objects, starts generating its own internal comforts and delights.

Whether it is through interactions or not, it is the mind alone that generates delights and comforts. When the intelligence too gains ample clarity through knowledge, that knowledge-realization also will start giving you a lot of delight, so much so that external material object-based-delight will have lesser hold on you.

Now, let us apply the concepts of sat and asat to sukha and duḥkha. Sukha as a substance or as an independent existence has no basis. It is not sat. Duḥkha also has no basis of its own. Then how is it that they are manifesting?

See, no example can be perfect and complete. Examples can be helpful in understanding the concept. Think of fire. Fire certainly denotes an object. It reveals itself through two aspects: It generates heat and it brings about brilliance. Light and heat are the two properties or expressions of fire. Heat is a form of energy; so too is light. They are not themselves fire. But fire gives rise to these. We cannot have fire without giving rise to these two.

In the same manner sukha and duḥkha are expressions or revelations which a third factor gives rise to. What is that third Factor in the presence of which sukha and duḥkha are felt, and are expressed?

If you go on probing and thinking in this manner you will find sukha or duḥkha ceases to become important. Instead, that Third Substance which gives rise to sukha and duḥkha – that causal factor or the Source – becomes a revealed entity. That entity is constant. It is the basis.

This Source reveals sukha and again after sometime it reveals duḥkha. Both of them are alternately revealed by It. Now understand that this Third Factor, the Revealer can be sought, known and realized.

So, instead of running after sukha – which at best has only been deluding you – its presence becomes an occasion or a compulsion for you to search for and find out the source of sukha. In the same manner when duḥkha manifests – leaving the feelings of duḥkha aside – you must look for the source. And you will find the source of sukha and duḥkha is the same. It remains intact and is present uniformly.

When you are able to shift your attention from the transitory sukha-duḥkha to the ever-present source, the problem of sukha and duḥkha ceases. Sukha no longer deludes and attracts and duḥkha no more afflicts and repels.

आत्मौपम्येन सर्वत्र समं पश्यति योऽर्जुन |
सुखं वा यदि वा दु:खं स योगी परमो मत: ||

(Bhagavad Gita 6.32)

He who sees the Self everywhere – in the instances of sukha or duḥkha – and is established in Its uniformity, is known as the supreme Yogin.

This is what Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita. See everything and all alike. See all things around you with this vision. When you have alikeness towards sukha-duḥkha, it virtually means alikeness towards all the external causes, events and instances which bring about these.

What is meant by seeing everything as alike? It is seeing the Self everywhere – the Self, ātmā being the source giving rise to sukha-duḥkha. In sukha you find the Self and in duḥkha also you find the same Self so much so that sukha and duḥkha become the same to you. When in both you see the Source, they lose their distinction and also their effects.

When you are given to this as a sādhanā, intensity of sukha and duḥkha progressively declines, to become virtually extinct. Well, the state of total extinction may not be reached, nor is it necessary. To some extent sukha will be there. Duḥkha will be there too. To understand this, think of a man in a coma. As long as he is in the state of coma nothing happens to him. Even if you prick him or cut his body, he may not be aware. He is not interactive.

We don’t want that. We want to have an active and vibrant state of life. In order to have such a vibrant state of life, let the constant alternates of sukha and duḥkha prevail. Then the state of dense dullness will not come. We want to remain vibrant and active. So, the sukha-duḥkhas are inevitable to keep us wakeful and be engaged in interactions. The interactions are preserved, but free of their afflicting, tormenting, and distracting effects. Sukha does not distract and duḥkha does not afflict.

This is what Krishna says:

दु:खेष्वनुद्विग्नमना: सुखेषु विगतस्पृह: |
वीतरागभयक्रोध: स्थितधीर्मुनिरुच्यते ||

(Bhagavad Gita 2.56)

He who remains unruffled in duḥkhas and un-yearning, un-hankering amidst sukhas, who is constantly given to sublimate and transcend rāga, dveṣa, and bhaya (desire, resentment and fear) is a sthitadhee. He is verily a muni, one given devoutly to renunciation.

You will have ample sukhas and comforts, but you will not have spṛhā (yearning or hankering) towards them. Maybe you will have a variety of duḥkhas also. But they will not agitate, afflict and torment you. In the company of both, in various degrees and measures, you will still remain abundantly uniform and unaffected. You will always be aware of the presence of the Causal Source. That is a very beautiful state provided you can understand it.

It requires an extremely subtle and sharp intelligence. We are not speaking of any external things and research into them. These are regular and repetitive experiences– but with one difference. By delving into these experiences, you are reaching an altogether different transcendental realm – the Source. Be flooded and inundated by the Source and live in its splendour and brilliance.

Harih Om Tat Sat.

– Prabhata Rashmih, Sep 2006