Solve and Dissolve
In life, a lot of problems need to be solved. There are however a good number of problems that are to be dissolved. This second category is self-created and, in their case, we need to uproot the basic causes of the problems. These causes are hidden within us. Spiritual wisdom helps us get the problems not just solved but dissolved. Take an example: I have chronic back pain and there is a certain medicine which is a bit expensive. Further I have mental turmoil about my ill health. My problem is – how to get the medicines which I cannot afford? A friend, Ravi , supports me financially and he bears all the expenses of my medical bills. Ravi has solved my problem. Alternatively, let us say I have another friend, Lalita, who counsels me, teaches me some yoga exercises and gives me a new vision of life. I sincerely practice the exercises and begin to look at life differently. My back pain disappears and I experience much peace within me. Then we say the problem has DISSOLVED. In the first case, a friend procured the necessary medicines. In the second case, the friend made medicines unnecessary.
Material and psychological issues get typically mixed up in life. Most of us do not see the dividing line or how they are interrelated. When we see the external aspect of our problems, they seem to be all material. It is in the internal side that we can notice how our thinking, values and attitudes, have contributed a lot to life’s problems. To fulfill a desire is to solve a problem. To be free from the desire is to dissolve the problem. Science and technology strive to solve the problems of humanity all the time. They have achieved a lot also. So have other branches of knowledge like economics or political science. Spirituality, on the other hand, has highlighted the wonderful prospect of dissolving problems. Great saints have repeatedly pointed out to humanity that we only create a large number of problems because of our ignorance and wrong values like greed, ambition, jealousy or intolerance. Mental purification can prevent numerous problems from coming into being. Isn’t prevention better than cure?
A great teacher of meditation claims rightly that, if 2% of the population in a town meditates daily, there will be no crime in that town. To have a very efficient police department ‘solves’ the problem of crime but to have the minds of all the citizens purified ‘dissolves’ it. The spiritual approach seems to be too idealistic and many may brush it aside as impractical. Really, isn’t the materialistic approach also hard to achieve actually? Can we ever have a totally honest and fully efficient police force? The police too are human beings and are prone to many imperfections. We may thus give equal importance to both the solutions and work both externally and internally
There is an old story of an American businessman who lands on the shore of the Arabian Sea somewhere in Karnataka in India . A fisherman is relaxing on the sands at 12 noon. The American teases the villager, “Why have you stopped fishing so early? Come on, do some more work and earn more.” The village fisherman says, “What would I do with that extra money?” The westerner says,”You can buy a larger boat and do better fishing. Then you will earn ten times as much.” The simple man says again, “What will I do with that money?” The man from the city responds, “You can get very rich and employ people to do the fishing.” The villager questions, “If my employees do all the work, what will I do then?” The American clarifies, “You can then sit back and relax.” Very puzzled, the fisherman says, “Is it not what I am doing now anyway?”
While the story in now makes a case for laziness or lack of motivation, it all the same provokes thought. Are we caught in a wild goose chase when we pursue more wealth, power, comforts etc.? In the psychological domain also, we seek popularity, fame and name. We want everybody to agree with our views and opinions. We want all to appreciate how we look or how we dress. Any criticism embarrasses us. For strange reasons, or without reason, we feel insecure endlessly and want to become all right by acquiring wealth or fame. We gossip and talk ill of others with the hope of feeling better or more secure. Surely these are the clear symptoms of an inner ailment and we cannot solve these problems by collecting some objects outside. We need to dissolve these problems by looking inward and eliminating all contradictions in our thinking.
A man lost a silver coin and was frantically searching for it in the street light. Some of his neighbors also joined him in his search out of sympathy. After a while, one of his friends asked him, “Where exactly did you lose the coin?” The man said, “Inside my house.” “Then why are you searching for it outside?” The man’s reply was, “Because there is better light outside.”
The glitter and glamour of the world, alas, has every one of us fall a prey for it. As we become very clear about the impermanence of everything outside, we begin to look within. Prince Siddhartha was clear about this matter very early in life. He saw an old man, a sick person and a dead body. He was deeply struck by the sight of these three examples of impermanence and sorrow in the world. He then went on a journey, never to look back. His enlightenment was the culmination of his looking within. He examined, in the finest details, the ways of ego and desire. In his long meditations, he saw the movement of his mind as it created fear or hope. All his problems dissolved when the ego in him died. In its mystic death, the Buddha was born.
Swami Chidananda
Monday, July 30, 2007