Why Do We Suffer? The Vedic View of Hardship

How often do you ask yourself, “Why do we suffer?” or “How can I cope with hardship?”

Everyone without exception suffers. Illness, war, betrayal by those close to us, lack of money, injustice from the authorities… Why does all this happen to us? How should we respond to injustice? Where can we find the strength to get through hardship? How can we find support in faith? How can we overcome suffering? Let us try to find the answers to these questions and look at what the Vedas teach about suffering.

The philosophy of suffering in the lives of the heroes of the Mahabharata

The Mahabharata is one of the principal Vedic works. Studying the Mahabharata, a person discovers an entirely different worldview. He begins to see this world differently. And though the ups and downs of fate still trouble him, he no longer suffers as he used to, because he looks at suffering from the Vedic point of view.

How do the Vedas help us cope with hardship? Queen Kunti, the mother of Arjuna and the other Pandavas, is a famous heroine of the Mahabharata. This saintly woman and her sons had to go through countless trials. They were persecuted, exiled to the forest, and there were constant attempts on their lives. Enduring one problem after another, she waited in vain for help from her relatives. She had to face her trials alone.

Have you ever been left alone with your problems, with no one around you who understood?

Kunti had an elder brother named Vasudeva. It is an elder brother’s duty to protect his sister, all the more so since Kunti was a widow. Kunti counted on help from her brother Vasudeva, but he could not help her. Vasudeva had troubles of his own. Together with his wife Devaki he had to endure many trials: their children were killed, they were deprived of their freedom, they were insulted. And this even though they were the parents of Krishna. Why was it so?

Why do we suffer, even when we serve God?

Suffering can either enslave a person or set him free. After all, surely there must be some positive meaning in the suffering that comes to us by destiny?

The main heroes of the Mahabharata—Kunti, Vasudeva, the Pandavas—are all very elevated devotees of God who always remained faithful to the principles of righteous life, dharma. In other words, they never broke God’s laws. That is why we cannot compare their suffering with the suffering of an ordinary person, even though outwardly it all looks the same.

When an ordinary person suffers, he sinks into depression and is gripped by a panic that tears his soul apart. But devotees of God, while enduring various sorrows, do not lose their grace-filled state of mind. Yes, they suffer, but they do not lose heart or fall into depression, because in their suffering they feel the unseen presence of God, His care and His help. Through suffering their bond with God grows stronger. That is why devotees of God bear no grudge against those who do them harm: they understand that behind everything that happens stands the inconceivable will of the Lord. Such is the psychology of suffering.

What is the cause of our suffering?

Once, after years of persecution, Kunti met Vasudeva. At last brother and sister could breathe freely. The hard times had receded. The meeting of these remarkable personalities is described in the Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.82.18–21). Please read this short dialogue: it is full of wisdom and gives us the strength to endure suffering.

Kunti said to Vasudeva:

kunty uvāca
ārya bhrātar ahaṁ manye
ātmānam akṛtāśiṣam
yad vā āpatsu mad-vārtāṁ
nānusmaratha sattamāḥ

Queen Kuntī said: My dear, respectable brother, I feel that my desires have been frustrated, because although all of you are most saintly, you forgot me during my calamities.

In this verse Kunti opens her heart to Vasudeva: “In my hour of need you did not remember me (nānusmaratha), even though you are such a righteous man (sattamāḥ).” In their commentaries, great teachers of the past such as Vishvanatha Chakravarti Thakura and Sridhara Swami say that Kunti was not really blaming her brother for the misfortunes she had to go through. She understood well how this world works. Although she says, “You did not remember me,” she knows very well why it happened, since the Vedic philosophy of suffering was known to her. That is why she speaks the following words:

suhṛdo jñātayaḥ putrā
bhrātaraḥ pitarāv api
nānusmaranti sva-janaṁ
yasya daivam adakṣiṇam

Friends and family members — even children, brothers and parents — forget a dear one whom Providence no longer favors.

The role of destiny in suffering

Providence is destiny (daiva). The word daiva can be translated in different ways: destiny, higher powers, God. Queen Kunti understood that, ultimately, Vasudeva was not to blame for being unable to help her in her hour of trouble. There are things that lie beyond our understanding, and in Sanskrit these things are called daiva. Kunti saw that daiva was guiding her life, that the cause of her suffering was her destiny. That is why she bore no grudge against Vasudeva, who had not helped her in her hour of trouble or shown her a way out of her plight.

In reply, Vasudeva began to justify himself before his sister, explaining why everything had happened as it did. He too emphasized inconceivable destiny, daiva, and explained that all people are helpless before it.

śrī-vasudeva uvāca
amba māsmān asūyethā
daiva-krīḍanakān narān
īśasya hi vaśe lokaḥ
kurute kāryate ’tha vā

Śrī Vasudeva said: Dear sister, please do not be angry with us. We are only ordinary men, playthings of fate. Indeed, whether a person acts on his own or is forced by others, he is always under the Supreme Lord’s control.

All people are always subject to laws over which they have no control. A reasonable person understands that it is not people who control this world. This world is controlled by higher powers, by destiny and, in the end, by God. And no one knows God’s plans and designs, just as no one knows all the ways of overcoming hardship. No one can fully understand how God’s laws work and what the meaning of suffering is. All this is beyond the capacity of the human intellect.

How can we overcome destiny? Spiritual practices for overcoming hardship

Vasudeva continued:

kaṁsa-pratāpitāḥ sarve
vayaṁ yātā diśaṁ diśam
etarhy eva punaḥ sthānaṁ
daivenāsāditāḥ svasaḥ

Harassed by Kaṁsa, we all fled in various directions, but by the grace of Providence we have now finally been able to return to our homes, my dear sister.

Vasudeva could not help his sister Kunti, and not because of laziness or an idle mind. At the hands of the wicked King Kamsa he himself went through misfortune after misfortune, suffering after suffering. That is why he could be of no use to his sister.

So we must always remember this word—daiva. We should not, in our pride, think that we know how this world works and why we suffer. Let us look at the world around us from a different angle, from the angle of daiva. Happiness and unhappiness come to us by some utterly inconceivable laws. Misfortunes can be beneficial for us when they prompt us to seek shelter in that very daiva, in God. In his suffering a person should sincerely surrender to God, serve Him and deepen his spiritual life. He should seek the spiritual meaning of suffering rather than ask unwise people why we suffer. In this way one can feel grace in the heart, and then suffering will cease to be suffering. Devotion to God and overcoming hardship go hand in hand.