As explained in the 4th chapter of Laghu Vasudeva Mananam. The root cause of all the suffering is IGNORANCE. Ignorance leads to indiscrimination. Abhimanam arises from indiscrimination. This Abhimanam leads to Raga (passion) and Dwesha (hatred). We then embrace Karma, and this leads us to more Janmas (rebirth) and in each Janma we have to suffer.
AJNANA --> AVIVEKA --> ABHIMANA --> RAGA-DWESHA --> KARMA --> JANMA -->
DUHKHA
(Ajnana here refers to lack of knowledge of Atma. Aviveka means lack of discrimination between Atma and Anatma. Abhimana represents passion towards one's own body. Karma is the product of desire, effort and action. Janma means rebirth and duhkha means sorrow)
As you may observe, Raga-Dwesha is the center piece of this seven-bead chain of sorrows. So, if we break this chain by overcoming Raga-Dwesha, we can overcome sorrow. To understand Raga-Dwesha, we must look at the creation from the creator's eyes. Doing this will help us understand why Raga-Dwesha exist.
FREEDOM IS THE ESSENCE OF CREATION AND FREE WILL IS
UBIQUITOUS
All the beings perceive the outer world through their sense organs. And when their mind receives a sensory input, it triggers a stimulus. The stimulus can be either pleasant or un-pleasant. It depends on the nature of the being. Every being is absolutely free to perceive things as it likes. This freedom is the essential characteristic of this creation, and nothing can ever stop/remove it. Let's look at a couple of examples to understand this.
Example 1: Imagine you are walking on a road, and you approached a Parijatham tree. Your nose would perceive the fragrance of the Parijatham flowers. Immediately, an internal stimulus is generated indicating that it is pleasant. This is a natural process. If an odor carrying agent enters into the nostrils through air the nose will perceive the smell. After the smell is perceived, an internal stimulus is generated classifying it as either pleasant or unpleasant. This classification is subjective. It is the being's choice to treat it as pleasant or unpleasant.
Example 2: Imagine you continued walking further and approached a Fish market. Your nose would perceive the smell of dead fish. Immediately an internal stimulus is generated indicating the smell is unpleasant. Again, this is subjective. There may be other beings (stray dogs) that might like the same smell. So, wherever you see, there are beings perceiving the outer world and there is a stimulus generated inside them classifying things as pleasant or unpleasant.
CHIT - MEMORY - TENDENCIES
Let us call the device inside the body which is generating the stimulus as Chit. And every stimulus recorded in the memory as tendency (Vasana). Raaga is the cumulative effect of all the pleasant tendencies Dwesha is the cumulative effect of all the unpleasant tendencies.
PERCEPTION --> STIMULUS --> MEMORY --> RAGA-DWESHA
Let's understand this better with some examples:
Example 1 - Take a case of a person suffering from hyper-acidity. Every time he/she eats something tangy or spicy, his/her stomach burns giving a very unpleasant feeling. After suffering for a considerable time like this, he/she would develop a repulsive feeling towards tangy/spicy stuff. All his/her tendencies are filled with unpleasant experiences attached to spicy and tangy tastes. He/she would feel uncomfortable at the sight of a raw mango or vineger. This is an example of Dwesha. It started with perception of a particular taste. Then there is an accumulation of unpleasant stimulus in the memory attached to that taste. The combination of all the unpleasant tendencies resulted in a repulsive feeling towards certain objects which is called Dwesha.
Similarly, when you accumulate pleasant tendencies about some in the memory that leads to Raga. People developing liking towards a music director, or a singer can be an example of Raga.
RAGA-DWESHA --> MENTAL BIAS --> BUDDHI --> WRONG DECISIONS
The biggest impact of Raga-Dwesha is incorrect decisions. Tendencies kick-in even before you start thinking about something. So, you won't even be aware that your thinking has got some bias. Raga pulls your decisions towards things that are attributed to pleasant tendencies and Dwesha pushes your decision away from things that are attributed to unpleasant tendencies. They don't care about dharma or adharma. Right or wrong, Useful or harmful.
DON'T LET IT GET INTO THE HEAD
You cannot stop stimulus, but you can refrain from creating a strong memory out of such experiences. Yes, by maintaining neutrality towards pleasure and pain, you can avoid creating tendencies of these experiences. A neutral mind would also weaken your existing tendencies. And when the tendencies are weak it reduces the bias in your decision-making process. You would have observed that your decisions are quite balanced when you are thinking about something that does not bother you at all. This is the secret behind it.
THATAKI - AHALYA - SITA
Ramayana has a beautiful explanation about how to mend your Chit and the tendencies. There are 3 important woman characters in Ramayana. They are, Thataki, Ahalya and Sita.
Thataki - Thataki is an ogre with demonic lifestyle. Rama fought vigorously with her and killed her ruthlessly. Thataki represents your chit dominated by Tamasic tendencies. Example of a tamasic tendency is feeling lethargic to do bath early in the morning. You can overcome these types of tendencies with strong will power and determination. When you make a strong resolution and wake up early and bath for week, you will overcome the lethargy completely. You will remove all its traces from your mind. Rama killing Thataki symbolizes you overcoming Tamasic tendencies with strong will power and determination.
Ahalya - Ahalya was the most beautiful woman in God's creation. She was ordered to do penance by her husband Gautama due to her non-dharmic allegiance with Indra. She becomes a rock and waits for the Rama to atone her sins. When Rama touches the rock with his foot it transforms back into beautiful Ahalya. Then she offers pranams to Rama. Rama blesses Ahalya and moves on to his journey to Mithila. Ahalya represents your sensual cravings or Rajasic tendencies. You cannot overcome these with strong determination and will power. You need to teach your chit to mend its ways and change gradually. Take a person with diabetes for example. Imagine Ladu is his favorite. It is not possible for him to withdraw from the desire of eating Ladu by strong will power. The stronger you pull back the sensual cravings, the stronger they recoil and push you towards the desire. It is not possible to overcome them by satisfying the want either. Every time that person eats a Ladu, the tendency becomes stronger. So, a diabetic person who is trying to stay away from Ladu has to first learn the bad effects eating sweets. Then he should be reminding it to himself repeatedly. Develop a sense of guilt for eating Ladu. Then his Chit would gradually move away from it. This is the only way to overcome sensual cravings.
Sita - Sita is the princess of Mithila and daughter of King Janaka. She represents Chit dominated by Sattvic tendencies. Devotion to God, respect for Dharma etc is your Sattvic tendencies. You should not try to overcome these. These are required until you reach certain higher levels in your spiritual Sadhana. Rama marrying Sita explains how you should embrace these Sattvic tendencies coz they help in your spiritual progress.
CHIT - TEMPTATION - EGO
Chapalatva or temptation is the nature of sattvic chit. Resisting temptations is very crucial. Ramayana teaches us the importance of resisting temptations by the episode of Sita apaharana (kidnap of Sita). The episode begins with Sita being tempted towards a beautiful golden colored deer. When the temptation arises in her mind, Rama went far away from her (to catch the deer). When both Rama and Lakshmana were away, Ravana who symbolizes desire comes in the disguise of a harmless Sadhu and kidnaps Sita. This is what happens if we succumb to temptations. The moment you feel a temptation, you have already lost your stable and neutral mindset. There is an element of fear of adharma inside you that causes some hesitation (Lakshmana). But if you still persist on the temptation that will also go away. Then you get into the clutches of desire.
Conclusion
You are free to perceive objects as pleasant or unpleasant. Your chit will generate either pleasant or unpleasant stimulus at every event. Endure them with a neutral mind. Don't let them go into your head. And most important, never succumb to the temptations. Then you will overcome Raga-Dwesha and break the seven-bead chain of sorrow.
