On bullying.... and response from Sri Ramakrishna

[Guest guest]

Further to earlier message about 'bullying' and

the story told by Sri Ramakrishna about the

snake 'hissing but not biting'...... an interesting further

response from Dev...

 

If you take things too literally, you end up not understanding what

the great Master intended to say.

 

While being at such an exalted level Sri Ramakrishna Thakur was

very very practical when advising householders and all the struggling

devotees or doubting minds that used to visit him. You can make

that out from the way he used to give tailored advise suited

specifically to the level and the temperament of the person asking

the question. Where he found that a person was carrying a big load

of lustful tendencies he would even advise them to go ahead and

fulfil their desires since it would have been useless to advise self

control to an unprepared mind. In almost all conversations, there

was a context and a person and no advice was supposed to be

universal.

 

When it comes to hissing and biting to my mind the great Master

meant that whatever needs to be done in self defense should be

done by the householder provided the intention was not revenge

or unnecessarily hurting the other person. To a person who does

not understand the language of words a hard slap on the face

could be a hiss so that the bully understands that there could be

more coming if he does not behave. In this the important thing is

that the intent of the person who is defending himself is not to

hurt but just to do enough to put the necessary fear in a bully who

is trying to be a menace.

 

Take an example: the slap of a mother is not violence by any stetch

of imagination since there is love deep down in the heart of the mother.

So also the "hiss" of a person who is non violent and loving at the

mental level. It does not matter if that hiss is a threat or some

physical act which deters the bully.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Pranams

 

Dev