What is the root cause of sorrow?

A young man says that life is full of happiness, but a wise man, who is aware of the reality of life, says that life is full of sorrow. Where does this sorrow results from? Various philosophies around the world preach about “sins of the past” as the root cause of all the sorrow and hardships of life. Most of these philosophies become quiet when you ask about the root cause of sins? How to get out of the vicious cycle of experiencing the result of sins of the past and the occurrence of more sins in present? How to free ourselves of all the past Karma and establish ourselves in eternal peace and blissfulness?

The Saints of Sanatan Dharma have very logical answers. These Self realized ones advocate ignorance being the root cause of all the sorrows, of all the sins and of all the vicious cycle of Karma. Ignorance, meaning ignorance of our own true Self, ignorance of the right path as per Dharma and ignorance of the Truth. Even in our day to day life, while conducting in the outer world, ignorance causes all the hardships of life. A child attempts to touch the fire because of ignorance. Similarly, because of the spiritual ignorance of life, one goes on performing the sins under the influence of enjoyment-seeking mind.

Benefit of others is the foremost Dharma

An ascetic (Sadhu) was performing maun sadhana (silent penance) and while adhering to his vow, he didn’t speak for months. He used to live in a secluded hut just outside the village while remaining busy in the seeking of higher goal. He was highly admired by everyone in the adjacent villages. 

One day, a cow managed to escape the butcher and started running towards the outskirts of the village. The same ascetic was sitting under the tree outside his hut. The cow rushed across him towards the forest. After a while the butcher landed there and asked, “Dear Sir, I know you always tell the truth. Can you please tell me in which direction the cow went?”

In a very confused state of mind, the ascetic pointed in the right direction. But, he was filled with feelings of remorse from within as soon as he realized that the butcher is going to find the cow and kill her. He heard the inner voice saying, “You have committed a sin by telling the truth in this case. If a minor lie could have saved the life of the holy cow, then that course of action would have been righteous action as per the Dharma.