Adversity & Awakening by Swami Satchidananda

The Nature of Suffering Again and again, people ask me, “Why is there suffering? How can I avoid suffering?” My answer is, “You cannot.”

Knowing the purpose and the meaning of suffering itself is an answer to suffering. Once you know that suffering is for your benefit, you won’t have to be worried about it. You won’t suffer for that. You will gladly go through it. Don’t think that Nature or anybody is interested in causing you suffering. Our suffering is the way to clean out our problems. There’s no gentle way.

If linen is dirty it has to go through suffering in the laundromat. You can’t expect the laundryman to fold it, put it on the altar, burn some incense and say, “Get clean.” No. The cloth has to go through suffering, washing and drying; then it’s nice and clean. So that’s what. Suffering is the effort that goes into cleaning out the problems. The suffering increases if you resist it, if you don’t understand its purpose.

That’s why Mother Nature herself is a factory. We are all being rubbed and scrubbed and 1