A questioner asked how society should deal with people who are miserable due to disabilities and illnesses. Sadhguru explains that having a short coming or disease is not what makes a person miserable but rather the mind itself that creates one’s misery. As the saying goes; “The mind is a battlefield.”
Why Misery?
Questioner: Guruji, a person is miserable because of some disability from his birth itself, or he is miserable due to some disease which has happened not because of his doings. According to you, such miserable people should leave society for others to live happily. How it is possible, how does one deal with such miserable people, by society?
Sadhguru: Now nobody is miserable because of a disability. Suppose you had only one hand, one hand less wouldn’t make you miserable. It is just that, everybody else has two hands, you have only one, that makes you miserable. One hand less, does it cause misery? Does it cause misery? I’ll come to you, I know what you’re saying. One hand less, or one eye less wouldn’t cause misery. What causes misery is: everybody else has two, I have only one. That causes misery, isn’t it?
So a disease or a disability fundamentally doesn’t cause misery. It creates a certain physical situation. Misery is caused by you, only by you, nobody else but you. Misery is always self created. Situations are happening, some situations the way you like it, some situations the way you don’t like it, some situations the way you can handle it, some situations the way you cannot handle it, this is life. But misery is caused by you, isn’t it so?
A mentally retarded person never suffers, it is other people’s attitude towards him which makes him suffer. By himself, he doesn’t suffer, actually he is more joyful than most other people, or he just doesn’t know what’s happening. He has absolutely no clue of his surroundings or generally he is much more happier than other people, isn’t it? But it is your attitude towards him, you constantly reminding him that he is abnormal, which makes him unhappy, which makes him miserable. It is you depriving him of many things that a human being needs, hence his disability makes him miserable.
So misery is not caused by any situation. Situations are there, some situations we can handle, some situations we cannot handle, that’s how life is. So every situation that you cannot handle, if you want to make yourself miserable, oh you have lot of opportunity. Everyday. And you’re making use of it, obviously, that’s why you’re making a case out of it.
Why should miserable people go to caves? It will be good.
Now disabled people need not go to caves, because they are not miserable by themselves. Because they have no idea of what is what, all of you are creating an opinion that;
“You are not OK! You are not OK! You are not OK!”
That may make him miserable.
If you just see, some people come with two hands, some people come with one hand, some people will come with this big a brain. It is all part of nature and if it is there, then what best we can do with them, we do, there would be no misery in disability, isn’t it? Isn’t it so? If you allow your humanity to function rather than your prejudice to function, then there would be no misery in disability. So misery is not in disability.
Misery is caused by you because you’re unconscious of what you’re doing. Because the basic faculties in you, your mind and body, is not in your control, that’s why you’re causing misery. Please look at your life and see, four limbs are intact for you, everything is right for you, but still how many moments in twenty four hours are you truly joyful? Very few, isn’t it? If at all if you are. That’s an unfortunate way to live, that’s all I’m telling you.
Engineer yourself as part of your next step. Inner Engineering is available in a variety of course formats both online and in-person. Visit https://www.innerengineering.com/ for more information regarding Sadhguru’s Inner Engineering program.
-This article is a contribution by Isha Foundation in collaboration with Varnam Malaysia-
