comes from purging the mind of its many desires exists, even when the soul may be ready to renounce them, because this decision of the soul goes counter to the inclination of the ego-mind to persist through its habitual desires. Renunciation of desires curtails the very life of the ego-mind. Therefore it is a process invariably accompanied by acute suffering. But such suffering is wholesome for the soul because it liberates the soul from bondage.
Not all suffering is bad. When suffering leads to the eternal happiness of desirelessness, it should be regarded as a blessing in disguise. Analogies Just as a patient may have to suffer an operation at the hands of a surgeon in order to free himself of persistent and malignant pain, the soul has to welcome the suffering of renouncing desires in order to be free from the recurrent and unending suffering caused by them. The suffering which the soul has in renouncing desires may be very acute, but it is endured because of a sense of greater freedom which comes when desires gradually disappear from the mind. If a swelling on the body is opened and allowed to drain it gives much pain, but also much relief. Similarly, the suffering from renunciation of desires is accompanied by the compensating relief of progressive initiation into the limitless life of freedom and happiness.
The simple life of freedom and happiness is one of the most difficult things to achieve. Man has complicated his life by the growth of artificial and imaginary desires, and returning to simplicity amounts to the renunciation of desires. Unification through suffering Desires have become part and parcel of the limited self of man, with the result that he is reluctant to abandon them unless the lesson that desires are born of ignorance is impressed upon his mind through acute mental suffer-
