“But what is liberty without wisdom, and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint.”
– Edmund Burke
Kabir – The couplet
आवत गाली एक है, उल्टन होए अनेक ।
कहे कबीर नहीं उलटिए, वही एक की एक ॥
Transliterated:
Awat Gari Ek Hai, Ultan Hoye Anek |
Kah Kabeer Nahi Ultiye, Wahi Ek Kee Ek ||
Translation:
The incoming insult is one, but the response is manifold|
Says Kabir, withhold the response, limit the insult to the one||
My understanding:
To respond is an instinct that has been woven deep into our genes – and not just ours. Every living being responds to stimulus. However, as humans, we have learnt to use wisdom to temper our response. We have used our learning ability to teach our domesticated animals to temper their response too!
However, this tempering, for the larger part, has stayed based in knowledge rather than wisdom. We respond as we deem appropriate based on our understanding of the input, rather than thinking forward to the result of what our response may cause. And that is where wisdom steps in to play that all-important role. When wisdom is awakened, we are filled with the realization of two things –
- Any response to negativity will only foster more of what we do not want / are trying to avoid
- Such input rarely if ever deserves/merits a response.
When we hold back the response, we also have to learn to dissolve it in the fire of wisdom – for if not, it adds to a store of perceived insults in the self that at some point will burst out in a flood of negativity on an unsuspecting victim.
So we have to learn to use wisdom to not respond, and to melt the memory in the ocean of universal love. When we do that, we are ready to start our next stage of learning!