Guru Granth Sahib page 469: “Dukhu daaroo Sukhu rogu bhaiaa jaa sukhu taami na hoee”
The full line translates as:
Dukha (pain) becomes the medicine, and Sukha (sweetness, peace) becomes cause of the disease, i.e., suffering.)
But if (the Real Spiritual Sukha is experienced then no Dukha remains.
So what Guru means is this: Those caught in ego experience great pleasure in possessions and worldly delights. They feel they are powerful and better than others. In this way pleasure feeds the disease of ego. But as the disease progresses they begin to experience more and more pain until they reach a low point. When that low point is reached, they wish for God in their powerlessness. God has brought them to the state of realizing their own powerlessness and crushed their pride. In this way their pain becomes the medicine that leads them to something greater than themselves.
But the rest of the line says that if one experiences their oneness with the One then they will have true Sukha. No need to get “sick” and be “cured.” In that experience, pain and pleasure are one and the same. You can't pursue one without getting the other. But when you go beyond the opposites, you experience that it is all a gift:
Ketia Dukh Bukh saad mar.
Eh Bhee Daat Teree Datar.
Pain, hunger and constant punishment.
O Giver, these are also Your gifts.
25th Pauri of Japji Sahib
