There is plenty of anger and violence in the world. In every town and village, in every home, one finds explosions of anger. To respond to this anger with more anger only fuels the flames. We do not put out fire by fanning the flames. We have to smother the fire. Similarly, we do not put out fires of anger by adding more fire to them. We can smother the fire of anger with love. Many times in life we are faced with people who say bad things to us, who verbally abuse us, who criticize us, and who call us names. Rather than engage at their level, we should not accept these gifts from others. Then their anger has nowhere to go. It remains with them. When we withdraw from the scene, they find themselves alone with their anger. Soon, they realize what they have done. They see how calm we were in the face of their poison. Sometimes they wonder how were able to be loving in the face of their anger and they may come to respect us.
As we go about our day and are faced with people who are filled with anger and criticism toward us, we should look at their words calmly. We should ask first whether their words have any truth to them. If so, we can take their words as a lesson to improve ourselves. If their words do not have any truth to them, then we should not accept their gift of anger. We should not be dragged down to their level. In this way, we can maintain our equanimity and peacefulness. We add calmness to their hostile environment. We should leave the gift of anger with them and go on our peaceful, merry ways. In this way, we have kept our attention on our spiritual goals and we have become a positive influence in our environment.
Rather than add one more angry voice to a dispute, we should add the balm of sweetness to cool down the tempers of others. Rather than add to the vibrations of the atmosphere with an angry thought, we should send loving thoughts to cleanse the atmosphere.
Meditation provides us with a physiological response to control the anger. Our heart beat slows down during meditation, which has the corresponding effect of slowing down our brain waves. We enter a more relaxed state of body and mind. In such a state, anger has less chance to gain strength. The more time we spend in meditation, the more practiced we are in being calm and balanced
It takes a lot of energy to respond in anger. The response tends to deplete us and drain us. But if we use our energy to respond lovingly, we will not only bring harmony to the situation, we will be energized by that love. When we act lovingly, we are opening the door for God’s love to flow through us. We are energized and boosted by godly love.
The next time we find ourselves in a situation in which an injustice is taking place, we can practice responding with love instead of anger. We can note the effect that our positive response has both on the situation and on our own well-being.
There is enough anger in the world. Let us bring harmony and peace to the world. Let us overcome violence with love. We will find the benefit of doing so will have a ripple effect and it will not be long before our environment, our community, and our society will become a haven of peace in this world.
As a byproduct of meditation, we realize that at the level of soul or spirit, all humanity is one. We begin to develop love for all and treat others kindly as members of one family. As we become more loving and calm, we eliminate much of our stress and anger. We replace stress and anger with love and tolerance for all, making our own lives and that of others more peaceful.
Next week check out for Blog "Bring Light into Your Life through Meditation"
Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj is an internationally recognized spiritual Master who teaches meditation on the inner Light and Sound as building blocks for achieving spiritual illumination. Social and civic leaders throughout the world have praised Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj for his deep wisdom and efforts in promoting inner and outer peace. Visit www.sos.org