Why is there suffering in this world?

Suffering is a name given to the kind of feelings, that generally tend to be avoided because they are uncomfortable. Being uncomfortable in them is also a dogma and a learned experience. An unlearned person cannot differentiate between good and bad feelings. Feelings are feelings. Bad and good are mind labelings.

              As to the question of why is there suffering there can only be conjectures. The scriptures and rishis and maharshis of the great Sanatan tradition have given the answer. According to them, suffering is required to make people remember the futility of the objective world and also that there is something much higher than what one can see and observe.

              With suffering one starts to question their assumptions about the traditionally lived life. Automatically the charm of the world fades away. Since the mind needs something to latch onto, it starts to think about the other world. However, the need for freedom and liberation is an internal longing, that comes out as a result of innate nature being infinite and unbound.

              The awareness makes itself known in the presence of so-called suffering as well. As the background witness, it is present during times of suffering also. This suffering causes the mind to turn inwards away from the bad feelings and towards the witness, the source, and in doing that there is a temporary cessation of the mind, and that itself is the first experience of conscious self-remembrance.

              Thus we can say that suffering is the event through which awareness gives a jackpot opportunity to remember itself, which was not possible or rather not glamorous enough during the presence of normal thoughts, feelings, sensations, and perceptions.