The Free Press Journal

BLAME

- — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

ANGER – NEGATIVITY

When someone blames you, what do you usually do? You blame them back or you set up some resistance in yourself. How do you feel when someone blames you? Hurt, unhappy, sad, heavy? This is all because you are resisting! What you resist, persists. You get hurt because you resist the blame. Know that when someone blames you, they take away some negative karma from you. If you understand this, you will only feel happy about it. If you resist when someone blames you, you are not allowing them to take away the negative karma. Even if you don’t react outwardly, you may still be resisting inside.

Actually it’s fine to resist outside, but inside don’t resist. You will feel immediatel­y lighter. You can feel happy: Oh, good, somebody is blaming me and taking some of my negative karma. The ignorant person says, “Don’t blame me” because it hurts him. An enlightene­d person also says, “Don’t blame me.” Do you know why? Because it might hurt you. You can tell someone not to blame you out of anger or out of compassion. Braunlage, Germany, August 10, 1995

Normally, you offer your anger freely and your smile rarely. In ignorance, anger is cheap and a smile is costly. In knowledge, a smile is free like the sun, air and water, and anger is extremely expensive, like a diamond. Make your smile cheaper and your anger expensive.

Bangalore Ashram, India

September 25, 1996

Negativity cannot remain without a support. Positivity and happiness can exist without any reason. The mind goes on trying to find a support for its negativity. It looks for a hook on which to hang its negativity - if not this person, then that thing or that person. This perpetuate­s maya. The creeping vine of negativity needs support in order to grow. All negativity is an indicator for you to move to your centre and to broaden your vision to cosmic intelligen­ce. Instead of focusing your attention on a support for your negativity, look at the seed of the negativity. With meditation, Kriya, the source of negativity is nipped at the root. Bangalore Ashram, India

September 9, 1999

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