No person is a saint
Swami Nikhilaananda said:
"I may seem like, but I am not a saint..."
Well, I have not reached heights of enlightenment (yet) as some of you may begin to conceive. Many people who read this blog, or speak to me sometimes have a feeling that I have truly become a saint. Well, I am worldly-wise, but not completely void of feelings or emotions. Now, don't start making any judgements about my character :-) You cannot judge a person based on a few lines. However, here is something I wish to tell you. And in this entry, when I say quiet, I also imply quiet, calm, serene, peaceful, but don't imply quiet in the sense that the person is an introvert, scared to let loose his/her feelings but instead chooses willingly not to.
When we are young, we tend to feel pangs of jealousy when we look at something that someone else has, and when we don't have that. As we grow older, we may enter into one of the two groups - either the group which says I don't care who has what, these are the things I want, and I will work towards that... or alternately saying he has that, even I will work towards that - in the sense that they don't have any jealousy or envy, but may or may not be allured towards that which the other person has, and this person doesn't. And the second group of people, who continue to be like children - to have jealousy - who doesn't like it when someone else has something, and you begin to covet it, but more than the desire of obtaining it, have negative feelings towards the other. I am sure there are people of all types in this world.
Now, let me suddenly provide another set of people. There are people who talk, and people who don't talk. I don't mean the mute, but people who don't talk, not because they are scared or introverts, but because they don't want to kick up any scandals or controversies. Or it may be because they don't want to unnecessarily burden people with their opinions saying - "I am okay with anything, either option is alright" instead of imposing what they feel. Not because (or maybe because also) they are incapable of decision making, but because they don't want to enforce it on everything. Some are bossy and tend to impose their views on everything.
Now, when a person is quiet, doesn't say something, accepts things as they are given etc. there are a lot of people who don't understand what they want to say, what they feel, or sometimes don't want to know what they feel. The reason is because anything given to that person is simply taken in without any whimper, and thus it happens that the people at the other end fail to realise the true feelings of the quiet person - sometimes being taken as weakness, sometimes I don't care and most of the times, I didn't know you felt that.
So, my suggestions to the people of the world is that - next time you see a person who is calm and doesn't voice opinions, don't take it for granted that he is ok with it. If you are really interested in the opinions of that person, you should honestly work a little towards it, and gather a little more information from that person, for more often that otherwise, their silence is only so that they won't hurt your feelings, or make you feel bad. No person in this world is completely a saint, and there will be human feelings of some degree in them at some level, and silence doesn't always mean acceptance.
"I may seem like, but I am not a saint..."
Well, I have not reached heights of enlightenment (yet) as some of you may begin to conceive. Many people who read this blog, or speak to me sometimes have a feeling that I have truly become a saint. Well, I am worldly-wise, but not completely void of feelings or emotions. Now, don't start making any judgements about my character :-) You cannot judge a person based on a few lines. However, here is something I wish to tell you. And in this entry, when I say quiet, I also imply quiet, calm, serene, peaceful, but don't imply quiet in the sense that the person is an introvert, scared to let loose his/her feelings but instead chooses willingly not to.
When we are young, we tend to feel pangs of jealousy when we look at something that someone else has, and when we don't have that. As we grow older, we may enter into one of the two groups - either the group which says I don't care who has what, these are the things I want, and I will work towards that... or alternately saying he has that, even I will work towards that - in the sense that they don't have any jealousy or envy, but may or may not be allured towards that which the other person has, and this person doesn't. And the second group of people, who continue to be like children - to have jealousy - who doesn't like it when someone else has something, and you begin to covet it, but more than the desire of obtaining it, have negative feelings towards the other. I am sure there are people of all types in this world.
Now, let me suddenly provide another set of people. There are people who talk, and people who don't talk. I don't mean the mute, but people who don't talk, not because they are scared or introverts, but because they don't want to kick up any scandals or controversies. Or it may be because they don't want to unnecessarily burden people with their opinions saying - "I am okay with anything, either option is alright" instead of imposing what they feel. Not because (or maybe because also) they are incapable of decision making, but because they don't want to enforce it on everything. Some are bossy and tend to impose their views on everything.
Now, when a person is quiet, doesn't say something, accepts things as they are given etc. there are a lot of people who don't understand what they want to say, what they feel, or sometimes don't want to know what they feel. The reason is because anything given to that person is simply taken in without any whimper, and thus it happens that the people at the other end fail to realise the true feelings of the quiet person - sometimes being taken as weakness, sometimes I don't care and most of the times, I didn't know you felt that.
So, my suggestions to the people of the world is that - next time you see a person who is calm and doesn't voice opinions, don't take it for granted that he is ok with it. If you are really interested in the opinions of that person, you should honestly work a little towards it, and gather a little more information from that person, for more often that otherwise, their silence is only so that they won't hurt your feelings, or make you feel bad. No person in this world is completely a saint, and there will be human feelings of some degree in them at some level, and silence doesn't always mean acceptance.
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