What is the cause of sufferings in life ? Who am I ?

The cause of sufferings is Ignorance , Ignorance leads to bondage and bondage leads to sufferings. We begin our life with body identification and believe the self or Atman is body and whatever happens to body seems real . We get attached to material things due to the wrong identification of the self or Atman with body. This happens because we do not know the ultimate reality that’s why the bodily reality seems real but there exist even greater reality than the bodily reality which is called Godly reality. And Godly reality comes into awareness with self awareness . Just like when we born as child ,our awareness is limited to nearby place then as we grow ,we come to know our city then our state then our country then world then universe . Everything existed but was not in our awareness and as the awareness grow, we come to know about everything , in the same way the Godly knowledge too exist but it is beyond the worldly knowledge so only those who transcends the worldly knowledge and realise the self within beyond senses through the eyes of knowledge eventually attains the God , attaining which the bondage and sufferings vanishes at the same time. Like when the light comes ,darkness vanishes, in the same way when the knowledge of self comes into awareness , bondage and sufferings vanishes . Self knowledge is Godly knowledge which is beyond worldly knowledge. Worldly knowledge is the knowledge which is limited to 5 senses but the Godly knowledge is beyond senses. So Worldly knowledge is important to go beyond it and attain the Godly knowledge. One cannot attain Godly knowledge without going beyond the worldly knowledge.

Guru helps in turning the direction of the search from outside to within . So Guru is the medium between worldly knowledge and Godly knowledge.

There is only two ways to remove darkness ,either bring the light or be the light.In the same way, only two ways to remove darkness of ignorance in life, either borrow the knowledge from Guru or be the Guru.

Former is the stepping stone for the later one. One can become Guru only through Guru like iron gets magnetized only through Magnet and eventually becomes permanent magnet if kept closer for longer period of time.

For example:

1)Swami Vivekananda by Ramakrishna Paramhansa,

2)Lord Rama by Rishi Vashishtha,

3)Adi Shankaracharya by Rishi Govinda,

4)Kabir Das by Ramananda,

5)Raja Janak by Sage Ashtavakra,

6)Arjuna by lord Krishna and so on….

Bondage is understanding the self as body(boundary) whereas Freedom is knowing the self as boundary-less experiencing through boundary like ocean as wave.

Till one understands the self as body(or boundary) , one’s desires are bigger than the self but when one realises the self as boundary-less, one transcends desires out of self awareness.

PS:In bondage actions are driven by desires or incompleteness whereas in Freedom, actions are driven by Love or completeness or Fulfilment without attachment to any material fruits or Results.

Thanks & Best Regards,

Narendra Kishore Mishra