So many of us are quietly exhausted by the cycle of striving, achieving, losing, and starting again. We taste moments of happiness, yet something in us knows they are fragile. In this episode, we explore how Bhakti addresses the root of suffering—not by denying life’s challenges, but by revealing our true identity and reconnecting us with divine love. For the thoughtful woman who has done the inner work yet still longs for lasting fulfillment, this is an invitation to discover a joy that does not depend on circumstances.
Why We Suffer, How to Stop
In this episode, discover how Bhakti frees us from death and transforms life’s struggles into joy through divine love.
The soul is a seeker of happiness, and although we’re always looking for ways to be happy, we suffer. Bhakti offers answers to the questions: Why do I suffer? How can I end it?
Throughout the day in spiritual India, ordinary people, ascetics, renunciants, yogis, worshippers of gods, priests, and mystics light fires, chant mantras, study ancient texts, meditate, fast, and perform a dizzying array of rituals with the hope of escaping from impermanence and suffering and achieving happiness, as they have done for millennia.
Thoughtful people all over the world are impelled toward spiritual systems in search of purpose, meaning, and happiness. Most people inquire into or take up a spiritual path to address existential angsts, to answer life’s deepest questions, or because they are suffering or simply unfulfilled.
A central truth to all yoga paths and other traditions, such as Buddhism, is that human life is marked by suffering. Because we’re tormented by malaise, anxiety, pain, or other types of suffering, a desire to know how to counteract distress naturally arises. Or at least from the perspective of Eastern thought systems, we should want release.
Our release doesn’t automatically come at death. Because after death is rebirth, and then death — on and on. This is called samsara.
Reincarnation is beneficial because it gives us more than one opportunity — one life — to achieve spiritual perfection. And some people like the idea of reincarnation, perhaps because it allows them to exist forever.
But it’s also a cycle that keeps us in the material world, which is a place of suffering. Suffering doesn’t refer just to illnesses or loss of loved ones or things, but all the niggly inconveniences, constant obstacles to our desires, or great challenges of life.
Bhakti views suffering as the impetus for the soul to seek freedom and go home. By exiting the cycle of samsara, we move into a spiritual body with relationships with others and our source. Our home is on the spiritual plane of existence, a blissful realm free of fear, death, and all forms of suffering.
Here in the material world, we suffer in three ways:
- from the body and mind
- from other living entities
- from nature
We experience so many inconveniences of the mind-body, such as physical and mental limitations and disturbances, unwelcome mental and emotional states, illness, and death. Other beings may cause mental or physical harm, and we suffer from natural disasters such as tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, famines, epidemics, and other upheavals.
We seek comfort, peace, and happiness, but when we take the tally, if we’re honest, we may find we suffer more than we enjoy.
Suffering is a supreme motivator for change. In short, the world is trying to get us to change! Suffering exists to get us to change our angle of vision and our behavior so that we can become resituated in our pure state as spiritual beings.
Man comes from the Sanskrit word manu, which means “a thinker.” Humans have the unique capacity to reason and contemplate our predicament.
Vedanta says that the soul’s evolution up to the human body is rare, and it’s gifted with the specific intent that we can use our faculties to become free of samsara. Though samsara is endless, life as a human being can end it. We’re to become curious, take pause, and seek answers about how to find freedom.
Sri Chaitanya, who in my tradition is to Bhakti as Buddha is to Buddhism, says, “Turn within.” The self is a unit of joy, and coming to know yourself will bring you in touch with your inherent joy. In Bhakti, as you come to know your true self, you automatically will come into contact with your Divine Friend, who is your source, maintainer, and protector, because he’s sitting right next to you in the heart.
We’ll learn much more about Sri Caitanya in an upcoming episode.
Understanding Samsara, Dharma, and the Root Cause of Suffering
Let’s take a step back and consider how we’re navigating life right now. At the moment, we hope for happiness in relationships, material activities, things, status, wealth, fame, and other desirables. Therefore, we dedicate our energy to pursuing happiness there.
But have we experienced unbounded, enduring happiness? We’ve experienced happiness and joy. But is it unbounded? Does it last?
Consider the definition of happiness as seen through the eyes of a mystic who is experiencing the bliss of the self. They say that what we now call happiness is simply a momentary cessation of distress. It can’t rightly be called happiness because it’s temporary and far from the ecstatic, normal condition of the self. In other words, we don’t yet know the joy of the self because we don’t yet know the self.
First of all, this definition tells us that there is a happiness greater than what we have experienced that awaits us. That joy of the self is what we are meant to seek.
So, why are we suffering anyway? Factually, the discord we suffer is because we identify with the wrong things: We identify with our body, our nationality, our gender, our job, without realizing that all of these things are external to our true self and are not our real identity.
When we begin to understand the self, then we understand our relationship with the world and the Supreme. The Bhagavad Gita, one of the most revered texts on yoga and Vedanta, says that we suffer because we are out of harmony with dharma, or the sacred order that underlies all things.
To educate us – to grant knowledge that can brighten the landscape in front of us – the Gita concisely breaks down Reality with a capital R into five broad categories, then explains their interrelationships and shows us how harmonious relationships between us, others, the world, and the Supreme will bring us peace and prosperity and make the world a more livable place.
When we act in harmony with dharma, we create good karma; when we act against dharma, we create bad karma.
Bhakti has the power to override the cosmic justice system, or karma, to end our miseries and release us from our material conditioning by putting us into direct contact with the fountainhead of everything.
Other yoga systems teach us how to cultivate good karma or how to be liberated from karma by merging into the ground of being. Bhakti works differently: it takes us beyond karma by connecting us to the grace of the Divine.
To summarize: the root of our ignorance, and the suffering that pursues, is our inability to identify our true self. In order to know our self, we need to be lifted from the illusion that we are the body-mind. This is only possible through contact with the spirit. No person, knowledge, system, organization – nothing material – can release us. We can only be released by contact with the spirit.
The Bhagavad Gita tells us that Bhakti, pure love, is entirely spiritual. It’s free from all material influences, and by touching the energy of Bhakti, spiritual consciousness unfolds. In addition to its supreme power, it’s easy and joyfully performed.
Bhakti is not just a philosophy. It’s not an abstract theory, nor does it require blind faith. It’s a lived connection with our self and our source that transforms how we see ourselves, others, and the world.
Bhakti facilitates a living, personal relationship with our Divine Source. Instead of living just to meet material needs, Bhakti reveals our true purpose: to reconnect with the Sweet Absolute and serve with love. Every action—whether working, cooking, parenting, studying, or even walking—can be offered as devotion, making life meaningful and purposeful and giving inner fulfillment independent of life’s ups and downs. Whether through mantra meditation, mindful eating, or offering your work as service, you can integrate Bhakti practices into your life and turn ordinary days into opportunities for divine connection.
Eating food spiritualized through being offered expands the heart and consciousness, work becomes service, and challenges become chances to grow in devotion. Even routine activities gain spiritual significance when done with our Divine Friend in mind.
Bhakti helps transcend struggles by shifting our focus from temporary problems to eternal truths. A life without a deeper purpose often feels like a cycle of waking, working, eating, and sleeping, but Bhakti transforms it by infusing every moment with spiritual meaning and connection.
We’re not our temporary struggles, nor are we meant for endless material chasing. We’re eternal spiritual beings meant for exchanges of ecstatic love with our eternal Divine Friend. Bhakti helps us rediscover this, giving life its highest fulfillment.
Thanks for taking the time to explore Bhakti with me. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please like, share, and subscribe to enable more seekers to discover Bhakti’s universal messages. That way, you can continue to journey into the mystical yet practical world of Bhakti.
In the next episode, we’ll examine the true self beyond the mind and body.
I want to leave you with a question to think about: “If your happiness didn’t depend on circumstances, what would your life look like, and what would you do differently starting today?”
Please let me know your thoughts, questions, or share your reflections in the comments. Until next time, stay inspired and keep exploring.
Svasty astu visvasya: May there be good fortune throughout the universe and for you.
