Conference Day 3 (Thu) - Techniques for Pain Management
Name of Lecture: …Techniques for Pain Management
Name of Speaker: …Swami Veda Bharati (SVB) Lecture #3
Program Time: …9.30-10.30am 2009 Feb 26
Location: Mediation Hall, SRSG
Name of Chairman:… Susan Gould Fogerite
Name of Reporter: …Yeahee Kim
Reference Material/Presentation/Other Information Collected: …None
Main Points of the Lecture: ....In previous lectures, Swami Veda explained the first of the three kinds of pain that are to be distinguished: adhyatmika, the pain which arises from the physical and mental constituents of personality. Today Swamiji explained the other two kinds of pain: adhibhautika is the pain which is caused ‘by other living beings’ or, more precisely, when others produce certain stimuli, e.g. by shouting insults at us, and the pain is in our response. Adhidaivika are the pains coming from the forces of nature, like the suffering after an earthquake.
The Conference is about Meditation for Pain Management. In this context Swami Veda Bharati spoke about two key understandings to be able to be a Guide in meditation. First, to guide others we need the right state of mind/voice/body language. This requires that we have internal experience as a meditator. Second, a guide in meditation also needs to have a strong mind. Only if we learn to be neutral on pain can create the mental field in which we can hug the other persons aching mind and thus guide them into meditation. The meditation guide’s secret is to help the suffering person by giving him tools to activate the pleasure centers in the mind. This reduces the amount of allopathic painkillers that is needed.
Pleasures are of two kinds of nature: excitation (after which exhaustion follows) and quietude (which leads to a longer lasting state of evenness). Meditation leads to the pleasure of quietude. It leads the meditator to and interior fullness in which he no longer tries to fill the emptiness within with external objects, as we usually do. To reach this state of meditation, we have to change our mind’s lifestyle to come to an expansion of our awareness. The strong mind can choose to perceive what is happening in body, mind and breath and can subsequently evaluate: is it pleasant or painful? After this evaluation, with the help of the natural faculty of wisdom (the viveka buddhi) the correct reaction (without under-or overreacting) can be made. It is we who choose to enjoy or to suffer, to choose our emotion about the fact of pain. Pain is there, but we can handle the associative part, the emotional response to it.