Page 13 - NAMAH-Jul-2024

The Role of Pain and Suffering in our Growth*

Manoj Pavithran

Abstract
This article explores the multi-faceted role of pain and suffering in personal growth, offering
perspectives from the individual to the universal. It delves into Sri Aurobindo’s insights on
evolution, revealing how disruption catalyses transformation. Emphasising an integral view,
it suggests pain as a temporary experience within a larger reality of oneness, urging a shift
in perception in order to embrace life’s challenges as steps towards realising our highest
potential.

our own perspective and view it through a
wider lens? Imagine a scene: a tiger hunts
and kills a deer. From the deer’s viewpoint,
this is a terrifying ordeal, a fight for survival
that ends in death. Yet, for the tiger, it’s a
successful hunt, a means of sustenance. Here,
the same event unfolds through two vastly
different perspectives.

We can zoom out further. From the ecosystem’s
Reframing pain and suffering: through perspective, this isn’t just predator feeding;
many perspectives it’s part of a food chain keeping the ecosystem
in balance. The ecosystem maintains its
Our experience of pain and suffering is deeply harmonious wholeness through this cycle
personal. But what if we could step outside of life and death. Even further out, we can

*This article is based on a presentation, with the same title, Manoj Pavithran gave on 4th
January 2024 at the Conference, ‘Understanding & Eliminating Suffering & Pain at Society
Hall, Pondicherry, organised by NAMAH, the Journal of Integral Health.

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