Put yourself in the shoes of the person you hate. A youth came to me once and said, “I hate my uncle, I cannot stand him”.
I said, “Okay, you can continue to hate him, but before that, just for half an hour, behave and act like your uncle”. So for half an hour he acted like his uncle and suddenly he came and said, “You know Gurudev, I feel different now”. So, put yourself in the shoe of the person whom you hate.
I said, “Okay, you can continue to hate him, but before that, just for half an hour, behave and act like your uncle”. So for half an hour he acted like his uncle and suddenly he came and said, “You know Gurudev, I feel different now”. So, put yourself in the shoe of the person whom you hate.
Secondly, why do you hate the person? Is it for what they are doing? If they are doing horrible things, either they are ignorant or they are stressed. By hating them, can you change them? People make mistakes and you hate them? Why do you hate them, because they make some mistakes? By hating a person who makes mistakes, can you correct them? No, you cannot correct them when you hate them. Do you want them to be corrected? Yes. So what is the way? Not hating them but by educating them. This is necessary.
People like ISIS, they hate everybody and people hate them. By hating we cannot change them and they cannot change us. They also do not know this. Their idea is to change everybody. We hate them because they are doing such heinous crimes. But by hating will they change? No. Not hating them but educating them.
The young children need to be educated before they get into this kind of mind set. That’s why, harmony in diversity should be part of the education. We need to educate the mind because all crime begins here in the upper chamber. To educate someone you need to have compassion.
See, in your life, you come across many people who think differently, and you want them to change, and by you wanting them to change they do not change. When you say what they are doing is hurting you, so please do not hurt me, they do not change so easily. But when you tell them what they are doing hurts them, and so they should change, that will be much more effective. So love can transform the world, compassion can change the world and this is our experience.
