Dealing with provocation
Question
Thank you very much for your previous answer. It was very clear and well explained. I have been recently troubled with issues of anger and provocation. I am doing my best to remain unoffensive and not step on the toes of others, yet it seems that I am still getting many confrontational encounters with people seemingly out of nowhere. Perhaps this is through past Karma which is the only thing that I can reason.
If this is a "coming clean" reverberation of past Karma reaching my shore from my own past actions, I am wondering if there is anything that I can do to alleviate the effects other than seeking stillness in meditation.
Part of me wants to not necessarily retaliate, but to put these individuals in their place for the rude behavior. And part of me understands that it is their own discord and blindness which guides them. Still I feel like they would continue unless someone steps up to them.
If you can help me choose the right solution, even if that means turning the other cheek, I would be glad to heed your advice.
नमस्ते
Answer
1. Firmly anchored to the fact that this world is Asat (unreal) and unsubstantial, a Yogi should develop the attitude of being unaffected to happenings and non-happenings with a feeling of certitude. He should work towards reaching the state where he accepts honor and dishonor with equal indifference. Just as it does not make sense to become irate or react to the characters who ill-treat one in a dream, it is a waste of time and resources to react purposefully to the people and circumstances of this world which is Maya (illusion.)
2. Involving oneself with seriousness in such trying situations leads to the inevitable growth of oscillating emotions which cause unrest and make the mind unsteady. This leads to loss of Prana and makes meditation impossible. This is followed by distraction and agitation which ends in delusion. A deluded mind moves far away from the state of Atmic bliss and becomes prone to committing mistakes under the influence of Maya which it will have to later repent for. Through such mistakes, ones baggage of karma which one is trying hard to shelve gets heavier.
All of ones efforts at Yoga get diluted and perchance broken as a result. Brahmacharya becomes very difficult and is prone to break further to such unrest. And to what avail has all this strife been encumbered? All for nothing but a few unseeming words/actions against ones ego which itself is false and non-existent. Who provoked and who got provoked? A deluded, ego centric mind rife with ignorance provoked and another body/mind/ego complex got provoked. Both are unreal and an illusion. We are not the body, mind, intellect, consciousness or the ego. We are the Atman which is infinite and all encompassing. We as the Atman are beyond honor, dishonor, happiness, sorrow or other limitations of duality born of ignorance. It is not possible for any person/circumstance to cause the smallest harm to the Atman, for the Atman is beyond susceptibility. Does the Sun become dark and cold because someone says so? Can the ocean get dry because someone ridicules it? The Sun and the ocean may change but the Atman cannot be touched or harmed in the least. It is primordial and infinitely powerful. There is nothing mightier than the Atman which is why it gets the name Almighty. This is our real state. Till we reach this state and rest there irreversibly, we should not bother to spend our energy on anything which takes us away from this path.
Let people say what they want. They do so till their bodies, minds and mouths tire and then have to face the consequences without doubt. Action and reaction are equal and opposite. Every person is accountable for his deeds good or bad. The laws of karma work with precision and clarity on each and every being. None are spared. It is karma which makes the world go around and people take birth. A soul which has no karma does not take a physical body. It progresses further in the higher planes, gaining further knowledge in the realm of superior bliss. Knowing it to be such, the wise man does not soil himself with unwanted karma which accrues further to retaliation as regards people and this world. It is not for us to waste our time and energy reacting to such occurings devoid of sense and sensibility. If people unnecessarily target us for no reason, they accrue negative karma for which they will have to pay the price without doubt when their time of reckoning comes. Let us be silent and fixed to our state of the Atman, calm and unruffled. If we react against them on an equal footing, then we too commit similar karma and soil ourselves foolishly. Then there is no difference between the two. This is not the correct way of conduct. The human birth is a golden opportunity to get free of encasement in flesh which is the repository of suffering. One should focus all his energies to first realize who he is. Then everything becomes clear and there comes the end to all sorrow.
If such a situation becomes offensive despite polite and sensible reasoning with the concerned people, one should move atleast 20 feet away from the spot and calmly ignore both the people and the inner reaction. The Linga sharira (astral body) which gets affected when emotions oscillate can be made to calm down once it is 20 feet away from the location of disturbance. We can then reiterate to ourselves that it was the false ego and mind which were subjected to provocation and not us, the Atman. Each and every life experience is designed by the Almighty through our past karma to make the embodied Jiva forge ahead in the ladder of evolution. There is something for us to learn from every occurance, however insignificant. So we take these provocations and trying situations as a test of our spiritual mettle and stay established in our Atmic state of peace and bliss, wishing good to all and enjoying the resulting harmony which comes further to righteous conduct and righteous action.
ॐ तत् सत्
(That Supreme being is the absolute truth)