Respect everybody as you respect me, but don’t expect from everyone what you expect from me.
You usually do it the other way: You don’t respect everybody as you respect me, but you expect them to give you joy and behave ideally. When they don’t live up to your expectations, you get frustrated and you blame or curse them. By cursing, you lose your spiritual energy. When you can bless, your energy goes up.
The world is full of differences; arguments are inevitable. With forbearance, patience and wisdom, skillfully make your way up.
Fools will make you wiser. The number of fools around you indicates the strength of your centeredness. Don’t try to get rid of them. If you lose your centre, you will have no patience to put up with them. When you are established in the Self, you find that even fools come up with wisdom; they are your own reflection, there is no “other”.
Fools offer you frustration and wisdom and make your life juicy. Question: How can you stop thinking that others are fools?
Sri Sri: You don’t have to. You can see all the people in the whole world as fools. The advantage is that you don’t get attached to fools. Otherwise, if you think people are sane, you will want to join them. You can think everybody is a fool and be cool.
Excerpts from the book An Intimate Note to the Sincere Seeker by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar www.artofl iving.org