The most intelligent thing to do is

The most intelligent thing to do is not to hate anybody because whomsoever you hate, you get those impressions embedded in you. A gardener is working in the garden. When you work in a garden, you will definitely get dirty. 

Your gloves will get dirty, your hands will get dirty, and your clothes will get some mud splashes. But after you come inside and wash up, you don’t identify yourself with the mud that got splashed onto you while you were working in the garden, right?

In the same way, while we are in society, moving among people, the emotions of others get splashed onto our subtle mind and we start to identify with them. This is what becomes a problem. We identify, “Oh, this is my emotion - my anger and my greed”. 

Whether the emotions are positive or negative, we identify with them and then we try to get rid of them. And it’s not an easy job. It’s like the gardener who thinks some mud that is on him will not go away.

For example, you’re peacefully working in your office. You have done your morning meditation and you feel good, but your boss is uptight. Suddenly, there is some problem that comes up and you get agitated. Someone else’s agitation has latched on to you and you think, “Oh, I am angry.” 

The clever thing to do is to not identify yourself with the emotion that has nothing to do with you. You can realise, “I am different from the emotions. The emotions are different from me.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji