Man’s Sorrow, Delight, and Infatuation
What is the cause for man’s sorrow, delight, and infatuation? The cause can be traced to the different kleshas (sorrows) that afflict man from time to time. The first sorrow that afflicts man is avidya klesha (the sorrow caused by ignorance). Deluded by the feeling that he is the body and that God is elsewhere and much different from him, man makes a misery of his life. The ignorant belief that God and man are poles apart creates a distance between him and God and causes anguish in him. Though man knows for certain that the mind is the cause for his bondage, he does not strive to restrain the mind and suffers as a consequence. Though he is well aware that the mind is the source of agony, anguish, attachment and host of other worries, he makes no effort to quell the mind.
The sorrow that man suffers as a consequence of his complacence is called abhinava klesha.
The man who is sunk in the mire of materialistic joys is afflicted by sorrow, as vishaya (sensual joys) is nothing but visha (poison). In his frantic craving for enjoying the sensual joys, a human loses his discrimination and suffers from many a sorrow. Man takes materialistic joys as the summum bonum of life and suffers untold miseries. All the sorrows born of such materialistic attitudes on the part of man are known as asthitha klesha.
There are also human beings who are lured away by the desire to acquire wealth and property and toil day and night to satisfy their insatiable cravings to acquire more and more. Disregarding food, sleep, and rest, man struggles from dawn to dusk to acquire wealth and property, Unable to restrain his desire to accumulate these materialistic acquisitions, he makes a misery of his life, though he knows thoroughly that wealth and property are ephemeral and impermanent, It is man’s infatuation to satisfy his insatiable greed that afflicts him. The affliction born out of this infatuation is known as raga klesha.
Hatred arises as a sequel to the frustration born of disillusionment. People prompted by the expectation of rewards seek shelter at the feet of men. But when the due rewards do not follow their efforts, they feel shattered and disillusioned. They harbor hatred against these men who fail to reward them. Anger also arises as a result of the selfishness and self-interest that they nourish within themselves. Man approaches and adores people prompted by selfishness. But when these men fail to meet their selfish demands, he becomes angry and suffers as a result. There are some men who harbor hatred against God, when God does not condescend to their desires. The grief that arises as a result of hatred is called dvesha klesha. Such an unfortunate person is an easy prey to distress and disappointment and disregards the presence of the Self within him. The delusion that he is the body and that Divinity is different from him is the cause of man’s sorrow.
Summer Showers 1993,
Indian Culture and Spirituality, Pp. 66-67
