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Someone Calling Us Bad Names Does Not Change Our Nature

How we respond to a problem depends largely or in most cases, solely, on how we perceive the problem. If a mentally disturbed person were to call us names, we would not bother and would probably pray for that person’s welfare.

On the other hand, if an otherwise healthy person were to verbally abuse us, we would not tolerate it and would come out with a fitting retort even before that person is finished. That would be our response because we perceive a threat in the verbal abuse.

Deeper thought would make us see our faulty perception in this instance. How does someone calling us something bad change our nature? It does not.

Apart from being disturbed by what you have heard, you do not change. And even that little disturbance would not occur if you choose not be affected by those meaningless words. Same is the case with anyone telling something bad about your body.

Say, someone calls you a cripple. How would it change your body, if you are healthy? It would not. That shows us that we are disturbed because of our identification with external circumstances that really do not mean much.

If we could train our mind to stay rooted in the reality of our personality and not be swayed by what we experience, then we could achieve much more in life.

Source - Prabuddha Bharata April 2016 issue