There is an incident in the life of Sri Guruji. Once some students studying in a university came to meet him. Sri Guruji told them that they should try to come in contact with every person in the society and move with him amicably.
One Swayamsevak replied that, there are people of various natures in the society. Some oppose us vehemently, some despise us, some are apathetic, and due to this it is difficult to maintain a pleasant frame of mind, while coming in contact with them.
Answering him, Sri Guruji quoted one Sloka from the Patanjali Yoga Sutra.
Maitree karunaamudhitopekshaanaam
Sukhadhukha punyaapunyavishayaanaam
Bhaavanaata ichitra prasaadhamam
The exposition of the above shloka is as follows: In our society, there are four types of people 1. Happy 2. Unhappy 3. Virtuous 4. Degenerate.
Those who lead their lives with a feeling of satisfaction, remain happy. They are generally content with their lot and express their gratitude to God for that. They constitute the major support to the Sangha activities. One should develop friendship with them.
Some people in the society tend to remain unhappy. In spite of being endowed with a number of qualities, they have to face various physical and mental problems. One should have a feeling of compassion for such miserable people and make efforts to alleviate their sorrow. One should commiserate with them, and as a result of that, they get associated with our activities.
The third category is of virtuous people. Due to their acts of virtue in their earlier births, they do not face any scarcity of wealth and are always abundant in physical resources. One should have a feeling of goodwill towards such affluent people and never envy them. We should always try to be amiable with such people.
The fourth category is of degenerate people. They enjoy inflicting misery on others. They also relish indulging in acts of violence. We should discard them considering that they are incorrigible and cannot be rectified by us. In a nut-shell, Sri Guruji said that in the society, we should befriend those who are happy, sympathise with those who re unhappy, have a feeling of goodwill towards those who are affluent, and have apathy for those who are wicked. These four feelings of friendship, sympathy, good-will and apathy will make our mental frame pleasant.
-----------------from Sri Ramesh Patange's 'Tathagat & Sri Guruji'
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