How Can We Confidently Answer Difficult People Who Impose False Beliefs on Us?

[Shri Balaji asked: Respected Swamiji, Namaste.

Many times, the persons we meet might be strangers. They might try to act like a good person or a great devotee just to fool people or due to their ego or over confidence. Or maybe they are genuine with best intentions. In a short meeting, it is difficult to know and usually I end up giving the benefit of doubt and assume the person is good.

In a related case of some elders, they might even try to dominate others by getting angry, threatening to curse or not give their blessings. Sometimes I hear elders threatening that all spiritual practices are of no use without getting the blessings of elders.

How does one handle such difficult people and also get the intuition of understanding the person's real nature or intention and fearlessly give a strong response inspite of them trying all kinds of tricks to dominate and subdue? Sincerely, Balaji]

Swami replied: Every individual soul has ego in it, which makes it to think that it is the preacher of true spiritual knowledge and expects other souls to become its disciples to accept and follow him. The soul feels pleasure in it. It does not like the continuous status of disciple to receive knowledge from a divine preacher. The soul feels inferiority complex in becoming the disciple of somebody. This psychology makes the people to claim themselves as preachers in some time of their life before death (at least in old age) to guide some as their disciples. This irritation of skin (Kanduuti) exists with almost all the souls. Shri Paramahamsa asked a preacher “Did you get permission from God to preach this type of spiritual knowledge?”! The age of the preacher and the extent of experience cannot stand as the indications of true concept. Generally, people quote longstanding traditions as their authorities for their spiritual knowledge. Shankara says that the darkness existing in a closed room for hundreds of years has to run away the moment the sunlight enters the room through just opened window. The darkness cannot claim right of adverse position for its long stay in that room to refuse exit. It has to exit in a fraction of second once the light enters. Similarly, the false ignorance must run away once it faces the true knowledge even if the false ignorance existed for generations together and even if the speaker is very old. Shankara as young man of about 30 years told very old priests of Kaladi (His native place), who were criticizing Shankara as saint doing funeral of His mother like this “your foolish traditions can’t apply in My case following true knowledge because the knife cutting vegetables fails to cut a stone (Shilaaprayukta kshuraadivat…)”. The basic rule (dharma) is that a saint shall not perform the ritual. But, Shankara was the only son and His mother got promise from the son that He will perform her ritual and this is amended rule for emergency with the subtle essence (Aapatdharma- Dharma Suukshma). The elders know only the superficial knowledge whereas Shankara knows the essence of true knowledge (the essence is that any ritual means praying God to protect the soul).

The ego of the soul gets hurt once its long desire to become preacher of some disciples fails especially when the truth is projected by very young people. To remove such ego of the elder people, Shankara says that the preacher is very young and His disciples are very old (Vruddhaah shishyaah gururyuvaa). Shankara lived for 32 years only, but became the world preacher (Jagatguru)! Never yield to the false concept if you know thoroughly the true concept. To satisfy the ego of elders, you can act as if you are yielding. If you observe the ego and rigidity in arguments of any person, you do the same (you can act as if you are yielding). You can get the non-existing horn of a rabbit, but you can never convince a rigid fellow irrespective of his age.

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