Tolerance

[Guest guest]

Bhagavad-gita lecture 10.4-5 New York, January 4, 1967

 

"Asammohaƒ kam€. Kam€ means tolerant. Tolerant. You should not be

disturbed. Suppose you are in this KŠa conscious society. Now, you

cannot expect that all the members of the society will be first-class

men. How can we expect? We are collecting members of the society from

all classes of men. So there may be a man in goodness, a man in the

passion and a man in the ignorance. But if you think, “Oh, this man is

not good. That man is not good,” oh... No. You should be tolerant. You

haven’t got any connection with this man or that man. You are

connected with the philosophy, with the process of life, and you are

connected... Just like the same example: suppose you are on the ship.

You do not find just all men to your choice. There may be different

kinds of men. But what is that to you? You have to cross the Atlantic

Ocean, patiently cross. Just sit down tightly on the ship and take

advantage of the opportunity. That is your business. This is called

kam€. Kam€ means excuse and tolerant.

Suppose somebody has offended you. Excuse him. This is also another

kind of penance. Lord Caitanya has taught us:

tŠ€d api sun…cena

taror api sahiŠun€

am€nin€ m€nadena

k…rtan…yaƒ sad€ hariƒ

[Cc. šdi 17.31]

If you want to chant Hare KŠa, then you have to become tolerant.

What kind of tolerant? Just like a tree. Don’t you think a tree, how

much tolerant it is? Everybody is committing offense on the tree.

Somebody is snatching its twigs, somebody is snatching its flowers,

somebody snatching leaves, somebody cutting, but it does not protest.

Rather, on the contrary, it supplies you fruits, flower, and gives you

shelter. So tree is the nicest example for tolerance. So Lord Caitanya

teaches us that we should become tolerant just like a tree. And tŠ€d

api sun…cena, and forbearance just like a grass. Just like you trample

over grass. It does not protest. TŠ€d api sun…cena taror api

sahiŠun€, am€nin€.

And you should not be puffed up with your artificial honor. “Oh, I am

this. I am that.” This, that, that belongs to this body. You are apart

from this body. Suppose you are king in this body. So you have no

connection with that body. And suppose you are the poorest man. You

have no connection with that body. So why do you identify yourself

that “I am poor” or “I am king”? You are neither king, neither poor.

You are spirit soul. Therefore am€nin€. You should not be hankering

after these temporary honors of this material world. Honor or

dishonor, the same thing because we do not belong to that honor, that

kind of honor or dishonor. So tŠ€d api sun…cena taror api sahiŠun€,

am€nin€ m€nadena. But other foolish creature who disturbs you, you

should give him all honor. Who is identified with this body, give him

all honor, “Oh, you, sir, you are very beautiful. You are very

learned.” So that he may not disturb you, give him all honor.

tŠ€d api sun…cena

taror api sahiŠun€

am€nin€ m€nadena

k…rtan…yaƒ sad€ hariƒ

[Cc. šdi 17.31]

In this process you can go on chanting. Nobody will disturb you.

Because as soon as you take to spiritual life, there will be so many

disturbances. Because it is a declaration of war with the illusory

energy, so as soon as you become KŠa conscious, the illusory energy

sees, “Oh, this man is going out of my hand, out of my control. Oh,

give him all impediments.” Therefore you have to learn this

tolerance."