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Transcending Suffering through Love
When pain arises in the course of following a spiritual path, we must learn to transcend it. Swami says that there are two ways of breaking out of the chain that binds us to suffering. One way is to grow so large through love that the chain breaks; the other is to become so small through the practice of detachment that one slips away from the chain.
This teaching brings new insight to modern psychiatry, which is vitally concerned with how to overcome pain and sorrow. In chapter 6, I listed some of the statistics about mental illnesses. Add to the suffering from those maladies the limitless misery that comes from struggling with desire, and we see that life is truly an experience of “brief periods of pleasure between two pains.”
Directing the mind to God and loving Him is first and foremost among the ways of overcoming distress. In an instant, divine love can transport us beyond all earthly worries. This transcendent experience happened to me at the time of my first meeting with Swami when I was transported into a heavenly state of bliss through his love.
Swami frequently refers to the one-pointed love of the gopis toward Krishna as an example of the kind of love that transcends all worldly experiences. Love for God can be all- consuming and can li us beyond body awareness into a blissful state where there is no more sorrow or grief, and we are freed from worldly concerns.
The Love of the Gopis
In his Bhagavatha Vahini, Swami describes the intensity of the one-pointed love that the gopis had for Krishna. Swami describes an incident in which the sage Suka addresses King Parikshith.
“Maharaja! Parikshith! Who can describe the supreme supra-worldly charm of Krishna, whose lovely form was the
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