Advaitin: That is a fairly common question that arises for a seeker. It is essential that one must understand what is suffering and what are the components of suffering. It is essential that for one to claim that he/she is suffering, there has to be a 'me'- the individual that suffers i.e. the Subject of this suffering. There has to be an event or occurrence or Object that causes suffering to this subject. And lastly, the process of suffering itself.
Let us first start with the Subject. Who is this ‘I’ that claims to suffer. Leaving the two other components, if one concentrates only on this ‘I’ and solves the puzzle of this ‘I’, it would automatically resolve the other two components namely the object and the process. Therefore, question your self as to who is this ‘I’ or ‘me’ that is claiming to suffer. LOOK FOR THE SUFFERER. Were you suffering in your deep sleep? Why not? Is it not because there was no ‘me’ to suffer? So what happened to this ‘me’ or ‘I’ during deep sleep? Since there was no ‘I’ in deep sleep, there was no suffering either. That means that the appearance of the ‘I’ is concurrent with the appearance of suffering (or for that matter any other feeling). On investigation, it becomes obvious that this ‘me’ or ‘I’ is nothing but a thought, the thought of being an independent and separate entity called 'me' or 'I'. Can a thought really suffer? On sincerely looking for this ‘me’, the ‘me’ vanishes, leaving behind the state of pure thoughtless Being. In this state of pure thoughtless Being, there is no entity ( a 'me' or 'I') to claim suffering. In this state of pure thoughtless Being, there is neither the sufferer, the suffering, or the object causing the suffering. With the disappearance of the false ‘I’ or the ‘me’, there is no one to make the claim to suffer. So, it becomes obvious, that it is imperative to seek out the seeker for an end to suffering. The loss of individuality is the end of suffering.
