Page 24 - NAMAH-Oct-2016

Namah Vol. 24, Issue 3, 15th October 2016

Pain comes with a message that it has to be A desperate laughter under the blows of death,
overcome for restoring the equipoise of the A doom of blood and sweat and toil and tears.
being. Pain awakens us to our defects and Men die that man may live and god be born.
insincerities, our lapses and shortcomings An awful Silence watches tragic Time.
and stimulates us to seek for pleasure and Pain is the hand of Nature sculpturing men
even poise beyond pleasure – a poise that To greatness: an inspired labour chisels
culminates in the sojourn for Bliss or Enanda. With heavenly cruelty an unwilling mould (5).”
It is because of the presence of pain that the
science of medicine blossomed. It is because References
of pain stimulating the human being to make
a life-review that a need for introspection 1. Sri Aurobindo. Birth Centenary Library, Volume 22.
arose, a need to consider one’s lapses so as Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust;
to make the necessary correction to move 1970, p. 324.
forward. Even if the suffering of pain leads to
depression and often to nihilism, it is also the 2. The Mother. The Mother’s Agenda, Volume 9.
metaphysical value of pain that makes one to Paris: Institut des Recherches EEvolutives; 1995,
rise above all imperfection, to opt for the saga p. 44.
of salvation, the void of Nirvana or the Bliss
of the spiritual plenitudes. Sri Aurobindo 3. Ibid., p. 46.
pens down graphically:
4. Basu, S: Integral Health. 2nd Ed. Pondicherry:
“The spirit is doomed to pain till man is free. SAIIIHR; 2011, pp. 92-8.
There is a clamour of battle, a tramp, a march:
A cry arises like a moaning sea, 5. Sri Aurobindo. SABCL, Volume 29. 1970, p. 444.

Dr. Soumitra Basu, a practising psychiatrist and member of SAIIIHR, is the Director of a school of
psychology, Integral Yoga Psychology. He is also one of the editors of NAMAH.
Sharmila Basu is a clinical psychologist based in Pondicherry.

24