Hate – What to do?

 

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Hate – What to do?

Hate is a very powerful negative emotion – we are often faced with the question what to do if someone hates us, or if this emotion arises in us against somebody else! Powerful emotions of hate and love – both are identified with the body, if one has reached the soul-level then it does not matter whether someone hates or loves us.

Either at home, or with friends or in the office there are people who like to pull others’ legs, generally out of fun and some with a malicious intent. Those who are at the receiving end continuously begin to get angry and the leg pulling continues and the anger increases – if anybody can push our buttons and affect our state of being, that means there is something wrong with us. This means that we are slaves and not masters. Our mastery over the self begins only when we do not change whatsoever happens outside, our inner climate remains the same – calm and peaceful.

If anyone hates us or loves us, that is their problem, not ours. If we have understood our state of being, we remain in tune with ourself. Nobody can disturb our inner harmony – if somebody loves us, good; if somebody hates us, good. Both remain outside us – this is mastery over the self.

If we have observed ourselves when we are angry, we notice that we are simply angry, whatever the root cause, whosoever comes in front of us faces the brunt of the anger. That person may be innocent and would be left bewildered and hurt – but that is how anger works – it is totally irrational. This anger is nothing but our inner disharmony which is projected outwards and affects others.

This anger and hate are nothing but our own inner churning and if we begin to look within, we will find the cause and thereby the solution. Meditation helps us look within and introspection helps cleans and heal our inner wounds.

Once we realise that we are a soul, our being is filled with compassion, unconditional compassion. Compassion then becomes our natural state of being, it isn’t like we can switch it on or off, it is there – a part of us. There will be moments when the compassion does not flow, then we again need to introspect and open the door and window which we have closed.

When we are not identified with the body or the mind, we have come home to our inner abode. The body can be hurt, it can die, the mind can be hurt, but the soul remains pure, untouched. As a witness, we remain unaffected by whatever is happening outside – we identify ourselves as pure, holy souls – that’s it!