The Root Cause of Suffering - Avidya

The Sanskrit word Avidya, translated into English from the yoga teachings, means ignorance, or rather incorrect knowledge.

Let me explain….

Incorrect knowledge in our human experience is having knowledge but that knowledge being incorrect. For example, a drug addict thinks that by getting high they are cultivating happiness within, but the feeling is fleeting and in fact causing more pain to their human experience, not cultivating more happiness.

This is an extreme example and one many of us are not able to directly relate to, but for the purposes of understanding the concept it’s a good one. But what if we look deeper into our modern day society. How society is set up to in fact stream incorrect knowledge into our consciousness every single day, masquerading as happiness, connection, community, self worth and wholeness.

Think about all of the advertisements we are inadvertently exposed to on a daily basis that preach weight loss or beauty, healthy living or connecting with your soul, all with promises of more fulfillment and happiness.

Even in the wellness space these messages have trickled in in an attempt to gain more followers, build bigger businesses and make more money.

Most of us are completely unaware that many of our daily decisions are unconscious as we confuse our own suffering with happiness.

I’ve been contemplating this yogic teaching for weeks now. Each day a new insight or deeper understanding of the wisdom.

2:5 Anitya ashuchi duhkha anatmasu nitya shuchi sukha atma khyatih avidya

Where in my own life have I mistaken suffering with happiness’s. How much is enough is a question I often ask myself (mostly around finances). How much to we actually need to live a life of abundance? To have all of our needs met.

But after sitting with this teaching it begs the question, How much is too much? Not in a financial sense but in Life.

How much is too much?

Could a surplus of what we actually need be the cause of more suffering?

The root of suffering is to over identify with the ego. In day to day life this could look like defining yourself by your job, your role as mother, teacher, entrepreneur, financial status, being the spiritual one, sporty one, fun one or party girl.

One of my teachers would say that all of our worries and fears arise from these mistaken identities. Of there being too much attachment to any given one, where we forget our essential nature of being multidimensional and our ability to pivot and change at any moment.

We we over identify, we begin to limit ourselves & hold onto ideals of who we think we are. We constantly search for meaning in relationships, in our work, on social media. Desperately searching for meaning and validation of who we think we are.

2022 tested my resilience. Tightly wound identities showing themselves clearly, many pieces bubbling to the surface ready to be seen and processed.

We all know it, some deeper than others that true happiness doesn’t revolve around what we do, what roles we play or what we own, but rather who we are.

When we devote ourselves to a life of awareness, of expansion of our own Being (how we show up in the world), that is when we begin to remember that we are here for a finite amount of time, in this human body, having this human experience & the value of simply being alive is Bliss in and of itself.

Everything else simply falls away.

I still feel in the trenches with this one. Playing with the concept of titration (to add a little at a time & wait and see).

May you find your own meaning in these words and may that serve you in revealing to your own Self the infinite nature of your Being.

With gratitude, Kate