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Whatever others may say or do unto you, do not care the least about
that, but with single minded devotion restore self by self.
Uddhava said:
Human nature is human nature, O Lord. Hew can one bear
all that is said or done by the impious.
FORBEARANCE.
SKANDHA XI. CHAP, 23,
Sri Krishna said:
In days of yore, there was a wealthy Brahmana in the Malava
regions. He earned money by the evil ways of the world, but did
not spend any thing on charity. In time the wealth was all gone. He
repented and felt disgust for wealth. He renounced the world and
became a wandering Bhikshu. He went to villages for alms. People
called him all sorts of names - thief, hypocrite and so on. Some
pelted him, others abused him, others put him to chains and eon-
fined him.
He bore all this with perfect calm. This is how he used to
reason within himself:
These men, the Devas, self, the planets, Karma and KAla (peri-
odicity) none of them is the cause of my happiness or misery. Mind
is the one cause, which causes the wheel of births to move. They
make friends and enemies, who do not conquer the mind. The con-
nection with the body is only an act of the mind. Deluded men
however think, this is my body and they go astray.
One man can not be the cause of grief and joy to another.
Atma in all men is not the doer. All acts proceed from the gross and
the subtle body. If the tooth bites the tongue, who shouid you be
angry at?
If the Devas (the Adhidevas) be the cause of sorrow, it is not
their Atm ?? that is so but their bodily transformations. And the
Devas (who guide the senses) are the same in all beings. If one
limb causes pain to another limb, who should be the object
of anger?
If self is the cause of joy and sorrow, then you have not to
look to the outside world. But every thing else besides Atma is
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