IMHO, great renunciation will be needed to dissolve suffering in awareness

Last updated on 1 Oct. 2025

I was hesitant to share my view about this statement attributed (don't know if the attribution is correct) to the great Nisargadatta Maharaj, in a Facebook post: "It is the person you imagine yourself to be that suffers, not you. Dissolve it in awareness. It is merely a bundle of memories and habits." After some internal debate, I decided to share it, as I thought it may be of some help to some spiritual aspirants.

Dissolve suffering in awareness - I find that very interesting as I am very much into "Dissolve in Awareness-I/God meditation" nowadays. "Dissolve in Awareness-I/God meditation" is giving me great contentment and peace but only when my body is relatively free from significant issues or when I am not facing other serious problems.

However, as of now at least, I cannot dissolve suffering in awareness. I have to try to resolve any suffering issues I have by prayer to help cope with them and also prayer to get them resolved, along with more worldly means to tackle them. 

I think it may take renunciation of a high order to be able to dissolve suffering in awareness. The great master Nisargadatta would have been able to do it. But I think it may be difficult for most spiritual aspirants to do it.

To give some context of 'worldly' life today, I recently came across this article about a USA lady: Montana woman had a broken arm, no insurance — and a $97,000 Bill. The article quotes the woman saying, “I’ll make payments the rest of my life to pay it all off”.

Now in middle class India context, my understanding is that typically if one does not have health insurance that a hospital accepts, one has to give money to the hospital on admission and then at various stages of the treatment. So if one does not give the money, the hospital will not provide the treatment. Ending up with a large bill from the hospital and having to pay it for the rest of one's life may not happen. But in such cases, perhaps next of kin may provide the money or take loans for it and so one has to pay such debts.

While USA medical costs are very high, medical costs in India are also fairly high especially in relation to earning levels in India. So medical expenses are a major issue for poor and middle class Indians too.

Coming back to dissolving suffering in awareness, IMHO, only great renunciants would be able to do that. I am quite sure that Nisargadatta Maharaj and Ramana Maharshi would have been able to do that. 

But can the typical spiritual aspirant who is into Advaita path, do the same?

I think that if they are renunciants (like sannyasis/sannyasinis), and well established in their renunciation, they probably could dissolve suffering in awareness or try hard to do that, and be indifferent towards whether worldly resolution (like hospital/medical care) is done for their suffering or not (leaving it to God's Will).

But, IMHO, for non-renunciant spiritual aspirants, it may be hard to dissolve suffering in awareness.

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01 October 2025: I must add that municipal hospitals in India provide free or very low-cost service to citizens. But the quality of that service can be inconsistent due to which most Indians who can afford to pay private hospitals through medical insurance or direct payment, prefer to go to private hospitals. A related article: 80% of public health facilities are substandard: Government survey, The Times of India, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/80-of-public-health-facilities-are-substandard-govt-survey/articleshow/111350919.cms , June 2024.