Why Don't More People Research The Cause Of Suffering

“Suffering without knowledge, without remedy, is animal life. One who cannot understand that he is suffering and who thinks that he is very well off is in animal consciousness, not human consciousness. The human being should be cognizant of suffering the threefold miseries of this planet. One should know that he is suffering in birth, suffering in death, suffering in old age and suffering in disease, and one should be inquisitive as to how he may avoid the suffering. That is real research work.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Easy Journey To Other Planets, Ch 2)

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Friend1: Why don’t more people do research into the root cause of suffering?

Friend2: What do you mean? People try to alleviate suffering all the time. That is the entire basis of modern science and health.

Friend1: Well, I would take issue with that statement.

Friend2: Why?

Friend1: Science is not about avoiding suffering.

Friend2: It isn’t?

Friend1: Just see what the world has been put through the last year and change. The aim was to prevent people from catching disease, though that never has been an objective in the past.

Friend2: They have been giving those injections to children for decades.

Friend1: If they know that such treatment will prevent disease, fine, but even those don’t promise that anymore. They give you comparison pictures of the suffering of a person with the injection and those who don’t take it. The idea is that you won’t suffer as much if you get the shots.

Friend2: I see.

Friend1: This is for some of the diseases. Anyway, the remedies applied to society as a whole in recent times have been to stay locked in the home and obstruct your breathing while out in public.

Friend2: Yes, even though the same scientists previously stated that asymptomatic spread does not cause a pandemic and that the face coverings are practically useless in stopping the spread of contagious disease.

Friend1: We can cover the hypocrisy and dishonesty of the credentialed medical community on another day, but I am more focused on the suffering aspect. They are supposedly trying to stop disease, but the suffering is still there.

Friend2: How so?

Friend1: Being locked at home for a year. Not seeing your friends and relatives. Telling children that the world is too unsafe to go outside. Not even the worst dictators of the previous century thought of inflicting that kind of harm to their people. Ravana from the Ramayana was a man-eating ogre, but he never tortured his people in this way.

Friend2: It really is bad, if you think about it.

Friend1: Therefore, I conclude that science is not about avoiding suffering. Maybe trying to mitigate disease and the like, but they rarely consider quality of living or other unintended consequences to their recommendations.

Friend2: True.

Friend1: That is I why I am wondering why more people don’t research the cause of suffering itself.

Friend2: If you can’t get them to see the bigger picture when it comes to treatment of disease, you are sure out of luck with something they would consider metaphysical or religious in nature.

Friend1: Yes, they throw the word “religion” out there as a way to discredit.

“Why even bother going down that route? Just live your life. Be miserable like everyone else and await guaranteed death.”

Friend2: I will say that they are trying to stop that death. That seems to be the bond shared by the asuras of the different generations and ages. They think they can live forever. They want to rise to the stature of Almighty, though they never come close.

Friend1: What would research into the cause of suffering involve?

Friend2: It is the question posed by the wise human being. If you meet a genuine spiritual master, someone who has seen the truth [tattva-darshi], you can ask this question. You can inquire into why you are suffering, who you really are, and what the point to living is.

Friend1: What are the responses?

Friend2: To truly understand requires a lifetime of study and contemplation, beginning with implementing the principles of the science of self-realization. You have the opportunity to understand immediately, as no one is automatically disqualified from understanding the reality based on their qualities from this birth.

Friend1: Not only would I like to understand, but I would hope that others would be interested in hearing from me after I have learned.

Friend2: Good luck with that, but at least your heart is in the right place. Be thankful that you have the interest, which doesn’t occur even after many lifetimes. Simply endeavoring for perfection of living is noteworthy, and out of those who try hardly one will succeed.

मनुष्याणां सहस्रेषु
कश्चिद् यतति सिद्धये
यतताम् अपि सिद्धानां
कश्चिन् मां वेत्ति तत्त्वतः

manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu
kaścid yatati siddhaye
yatatām api siddhānāṁ
kaścin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ

“Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 7.3)

In Closing:

This amazing thing I’ve found,
Through connecting with sound.

That cause of suffering all,
From higher realm to fall.

But now easily to correct,
When consciousness to direct.

Towards the one Supreme go,
Further research not required so.