Be Courteous, But To What Extent?
I was once playing basketball with my friends when someone made a shot that was concerningly bad. I thought it was fine, everyone makes mistakes, but not everyone had the same mindset. All my other friends started to laugh and make comments about him in such a rude manner, and it simply shocked me how he didn’t respond with the same level of disrespect.
After finishing our game, the person that had faced extremely rude comments offered candy to his each and every one of his “friends” regardless of if they insulted him or not. It would be extremely difficult for me to hold my thoughts back when I’m in a situation like he was, and to then offer them candy. Impossible. That’s when the question came up in my mind, to what extent should we be courteous?
Within two days of this incident, ironically, in sabha (weekly “classes” to better understand our religion,) we were reminded of the time when our late spiritual leader HH Pramukh Swami Maharaj faced a situation much like my friend.
Pramukh Swami was at a mandir (Hindu temple) meeting devotees and giving them blessings when a man can to the mandir asking to meet him. When it became this man’s turn to enter the room where Swamiji was sitting, he barged into the room with unimaginable intentions. He started to insult our Guru about his entire life and our beliefs, he went to such an extent to the point where he started to curse at Pramukh Swami Maharaj! The other Swamis that were present in the room were furious and tried to get this man to stop yelling at him, but Pramukh Swami said, “It’s okay. Let him take his thoughts out at me.” When the person ended his rant, Pramukh Swami told the other Swamis, “ake sure that this man doesn’t leave the mandir with an empty stomach, make sure you feed him well, then send him off.”
Pramukh Swami Maharaj and my friend both stayed courteous no matter what the situation was and so we should learn from good people like them to respect people till the very end.
