Letter # 84: "The Five Types Of Suffering"

Those who lived in Scotland around the mid 20th century, as I did, might have fond memories of Wullie, a character in the humorous comic series Oor Wullie. Oor (our) Wullie was forever in trouble but I loved him and still do.
Wullie’s antics would make his grandfather exclaim, “Bah!”, in sheer disappointment.
Up until recently, I thought that the word “bah” was just a lovely expletive but it’s more than that. While my online etymological dictionary didn’t enlighten me about the word “Bah”, an ancient text did – there I discovered the origins of the word.
Ba is one of the five types of suffering as classified in the Vedas (SB C7:p731).
The five types of suffering are, in the Sanskrit language:
Pa - hard labour.
Pha - foaming at the mouth.
Ba - disappointment.
Bha – fear.
Ma – death.
Examining these words more closely reveals their English counterparts.
Pa, hard work, is related to power, from the Anglo-Fr. pouair, podir and Latin potis.
Pha is related to foam, from the Proto-Indo-European poim(n), and the Sanskrit phenah.
Ba, disappointment, seems to be related to the English expletive "Bah".
Bha is related to phobia, from the Proto-Indo-European bhegw "to run" and the Greek phobein "put to flight, frighten".
Ma is related to death, from the Proto-Indo-European and Latin mors "death".
Srila Prabhupada wrote, “When one attempts to nullify these five (types of suffering) one achieves apavarga or liberation from the punishment of material existence.”
The Greek historian, Thucydides (471-400 BC), gives some pointers on how to remedy suffering: “The sufferings that fate inflicts on us should be borne with patience, what enemies inflict with manly courage.”
My special thanks go to "oor" Wullie’s grandfather for saying “Bah!”. He made me think.

God Bless; Allah Hu Akbar; May The Forces Of The Universe Bring You Harmony; Hare Krishna; Radha-Swami; and Nanak Naam Chardi Kala Tere Bhane Sarbat Dha Bhalla.

I wish to express my gratitude for your comments, which inspire me to carry on writing. Please forgive my fallibilities in presenting this material. Also, feel free to send this message on to someone that you might think would like to receive it. If you do send it on, my only request of you is that you send it as it is, in its entirety, and to not alter or modify any of the text, references or authorship information. Thus you will help to give credit or liability to where they are properly due.
Jas Bhopal
Copyright© 2008
References: "The Holy Bible" Online version; "The Koran" as translated by SV Mir Ahmed Ali 2005 ISBN 0-9761870-0-0); "The Bhagavad Gita As it Is" as translated by Srila Prabhupada ISBN 0-89213-268-X; The Srimad Bhagavatum as translated by Srila Prabhupada ISBN0-89213-259-0; "I Am That. Talks With Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj” ISBN 0-89386-022-0; The Dhammapada ISBN-10:1-84483-344-5; The Sacred Sukhmani ISBN 81-7205-098-4; Wikipedia.