One who considers oneself to be beyond the body and the mind and believes that one’s true personality is a spiritual personality, the Atman – How would that person respond to external stimuli?
Such a person’s response would be that of indifference, not of the kind displayed by an ignoramus, but the indifference of a wise mind. This indifference is based on the belief that one is beyond the body and the mind and is unaffected by the external circumstances. It is with this poise and aplomb that the wise person chooses not to react to any external stimuli, either of attraction or of repulsion, either of love or of hatred, either of good or of evil.
With this equanimity, the wise person chooses to continue to focus on one’s true nature that is beyond name and form and ignores wrong perceptions of experiences based on ignorance.
There is no reaction, lamentation, or brooding over anything with this person. This makes this wise person wiser by the day and takes that person closer to self-realization.
The spiritual response is a response that would take one closer to complete identification with and realization of one’s spiritual identity. That is a response with the choice of not to respond.
Just like grown-ups do not care to respond to the loving punches of a toddler, the spiritual aspirant chooses not to respond to the vagaries of life that are brought upon oneself because of ignorant identification with the body and the mind.
Such response is the spiritual response since it is anchored in the knowledge of Atman.
Source - Prabuddha Bharata April 2016 Issue.