Suffering and misery.

Q: It takes a lot of effort to get stabilised in the Self. 

Yes, a great effort is needed. When wood is wet it will not catch fire immediately. It must be first dried in the sun. When our minds have been dried by constant meditation, a single spark from the Self will ignite them.

Some people undergo much suffering because of their past sinful karma. This suffering purifies the mind to some extent in the same way that sunlight dries out wet wood. After the minds have been purified to some extent they become more fit for jnana.

God often creates a lot of difficulties for us merely to divert our attention from the world and turn it to Him.

When we feel pain and frustration we begin to ask, 'What can we do that will help us to get rid of this suffering?'

Often we turn to God for help. The sufferings in this world are often a gift from God. It is through the gate of misery and suffering that we can enter the kingdom of God.

Suffering only appears to exist because we identify with the body and the mind. In reality there is no misery and no suffering.

Bhagavan used to say, 'There is nothing wrong with God's creation. Misery and suffering only exist in the mind.'

If we suffer because of the wrong ideas we have about ourselves, we can learn to transcend suffering by giving up these ideas or by turning to God. Suffering gives us the impetus to escape from our self-limiting ignorance. If God did not send these gifts of suffering and misery, many people would be content to live their whole lives alienated from God and ignorant of their true nature.