Virtue is relative to the actions and ages of each of us in all that we do.
– Plato
Kabir – The couplet
सोना सज्जन साधु जान, टूट जुड़े सौ बार ।
दुर्जन कुम्भ कुम्हार के, एके धक्का दरार||
transliterated:
Sona sajjan sadhu jan, toot jude sau baar |
Durjan kumbh kumhaar ke, eike dhakka daraar||
Translation:
Gold, a good person and the teacher, are malleable – they break and become whole many times|
The egotist, the bad person, is like an earthen pot – once broken, there is no way to make them whole||
My understanding:
In our daily life, we face adversity at many junctions. Sometimes it is our near and dear that seem to poke prod and hurt us, at other times the absolute stranger who rents large tears in the fabric of our presumed existence.
At each of these junctions, before we can turn inwards to understand that it is really our own expectation of the moment and not external behavior that causes the presumed rift, our EGO raises its head and screams out, LOUDLY, that it is hurt, and causes us to react by lashing out at anything and everything in front, often to damaging consequences.
So then, is it truly the other person that is causing us the pain – or is it our own ego, our own presumed sense of self-importance that is causing us pain?
This is the ego that the masters ask us to crush and keep under control. The ego never really dies completely. Its existence is part and parcel of the existence of the physical self – it is born with the body and will live as long as the body has life. It has an important purpose – to provide the emotional energy that is required for the body to participate and contribute in social spaces. However, that same energy that allows it to serve society can, if allowed to grow unchecked, take over and control the individual instead of being a useful contributing servant to the larger whole.
So take heed, take control, and use the energy instead of being used by it!