The root of the problem

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A dull-witted person goes to a doctor with a complaint of pain. Here's how the conversation goes--

Doctor: What seems to be the issue?

Patient: I have pain.

Doctor: Where's the pain?

Patient: Everywhere.

Doctor: What do you mean by everywhere?

Patient: From head to toe.

Doctor: Show me where all it hurts.

Patient: (starts by touching his finger on the head). It hurts here. (touches the finger to his nose). Hurts here. (touches the finger to his chest) hurts here. (touches his finger to the abdomen) hurts. (touches the finger to his knees) hurts here and here. (touches his finger to his feet) here and here too....

Doctor: Stop, stop, stop. (holds the patient's finger).

Patient: (starts crying in pain) Aaaaa, oooooo, Ouch! That hurts a lot.

Doctor: It doesn't hurt everywhere, you idiot... its your finger that is hurting!!

Now, this anecdote is something that we all may have heard. However, many of us don't know that we are exactly like this dull-witted patient. We blame all our problems to be with others, with the world outside, unaware of the fact that all our problems are truly centred only around us! The circumstances and things, behaviour of the people around us, etc, make us uncomfortable. That discomfort of ours, in relation to the thing, person, the world outside, is problematic to us. We are unable to accept the things and people the way they are. So the problem is centred on the individual. If we learn to accept them, we realize there is no real problem at all!

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ॐ तत् सत्।