Will Suffering Ever End?

This material world is certified by the Lord in the holy scriptures, as a dangerous place full of sufferings. First of all, we need to comprehend that we are all spiritual beings within material bodies. As soon as we are enclosed in a material body and interact with the material energy, we are going to experience various aspects of worldly existence which may not be the most pleasant. According to our interpretation of the experience, based on the dictates of the senses and mind, some of these incidents may be appealing and some will be less than desirable, or even appear to be troublesome to the extreme. These troubles come under three categories. First there are the troubles caused by the body itself, then those which are caused by other beings, and then those caused by nature.
 
Less intelligent persons prepare plans to adjust to those sufferings without knowing that the nature of this place is itself full of calamities. This is solely because they have no information regarding the abode of the Lord, which is full of bliss and without trace of any sufferings.
 
On the positive side, suffering helps one see how to rise above the difficulties, or overcome the limitations or challenges, and reach that consciousness beyond dualities. Through this process people have overcome their seeming handicaps or restrictions to discover their true potential and attain major accomplishments in spite of whatever difficulties they may have had.
 
The duty of the sane person, therefore, is to be undisturbed by worldly calamities, which are sure to happen in all circumstances. Suffering all sorts of unavoidable misfortunes, one should make progress in spiritual realization because that is the mission of human life. The spirit soul is transcendental to all material calamities; therefore, the so-called sufferings are called false. A man may see a tiger swallowing him in a dream, and he may cry for this calamity. Actually there is no tiger and there is no suffering; it is simply a case of dreams. In the same way, all sufferings of life should be considered as dreams. 
 
The sufferings of this world should be seen as an impetus to open the doors to realize the real happiness we are looking for, and that is in spiritual truth. That is in loving devotional service. If we are fortunate enough to come in contact with the Lord by devotional service, we are in the perfect condition of life and are perenially benefitted materially as well as spiritually. Hence, sufferings can only end through religious and sincere contact with the Lord. This can be achieved by any one of the nine devotional services which are - 1. Hearing (sravanam) 2. Chant- ing (kirtanam) 3. Remembering the Lord  (vishnu smaranam) 4. Serving the Lord's lotus feet (pada sevanam) 5. Deity Worship (arcanam) 6. Praying (vandanam) 7. Carrying out the orders of the Lord (dasyam) 8. Becoming friends with Him (sakhyam) 9. Surrendering everything to Him (atma nivedanam). 
 
Therefore, such activities performed for the pleasure of the Supreme Lord, with unalloyed devotion, which is not mixed with any desire for personal pleasure paves the roadway for going back to Godhead and this is the means to end all kinds of sufferings. 
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