Mukunda,
What do we do when the truth causes pain to another?
Namaste,
d
- If the pain that is caused is due only to the truth then it is necessary for that to be felt. In the primal text of yoga, the Yoga Sutras, the first teaching of pain is seen in II, 2 as the kleshas - the five root causes of suffering - and all pain arises from them. They are ignorance of the Self, egoism, attachment to pleasure, aversion to pain, and clinging to life out of fear of death. In the later sutras Patanjali says II, 16 that the suffering from pain that has not yet arisen is avoidable. Later on (II, 34) we learn the nature of violence as arising from negative thoughts and emotions.
One cannot control other’s experience of pain, but we must hold fast to the truth (Satyagraha - as termed by Mahatma Gandhi). The truth sets us free from the pain that is yet to arise. This is where to hold yourself. It is not to avoid pain in ourselves or others but rather to hold onto the truth and know that this will ultimately bring about freedom from pain.