Let us reveiw the statement- it is a koan for life.
I will tell you my personal experience- Swami called us for an interview, There was the chairman of bahrain- shivaraman by my side. as swami started talking to us shivaraman fainted and fell. There were three doctors in our group. they felt no pulse and panicked. I was just close to him and thought he was dead. Swami smiled and said not to worry, low pressure and he went himself and brought some water and sprinkled on him, and gave command for him to rise with his finger 3 times. what i saw was amazing. with each finger command, his rigid body got up by stages and then he opened his eyes. To sidetrack, before this, swami had been intently looking at the ring I was wearing for 5 minutes as he was talking , to such an intensity that I was feeling queasy about it. Now when Brother Shivaraman opened his eyes Swami smiled sweetly at him and waved his hands and created a beautiful diamond ring with 3 diamonds in a boat shape an exact replica of mine - a little larger perhaps. all of us were so happy and swami said, " Pleasure is an interval between two pains".
Now I have a habit, whatever swami says I always think about it- do not accept it as it is and leave it. As experience has taught me that when He says something, it is a mahavakya- hidden truths are in it. So I was expecting another pain in the offering. Later i went to Shivaraman and asked him if he heard what Swami said, to which he replied that he could not hear anything through the interview. I told him verbatim what Swami had told as he created the ring, without any elobaration. Shivaraman a long time devotee of Bhagvan understood the message immediately and said Swami give will give him the courage to see it through.
All of us returned to the gulf after the visit. When Shivaraman returned to Bahrain, and was alone in his house some robbers entered and tied him up and looted everything they could lay their hands on. Two things they could not see as Swami possibly hid their eyes- the diamond ring and a gold chain adorning Swami's life size photograph!!
Then I understood what Swami meant about pleasure being an interval.
Now as a spiritual equation pain opens door to spitual awareness much more than pleasure, as we find more fair weather friends around us and a few suporting ones at times of need. So my personal experience is that though pleasure is what motivates you to live, pain is what creates lessons which we carry through births.
Krishnamachari Santhanam
