Five People Who Are Always Yelling

By krishnasmercy on January 14, 2024 • ( 0 )

“One who is simple, straightforward, and pure in mind, words, and all their work, Tulsi says all that they do in their love for Shri Rama will be easily accomplished.” (Dohavali, 152)

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सूधे मन सूधे बचन सूधी सब करतूति।
तुलसी सूधी सकल बिधि रघुबर प्रेम प्रसूति ॥

sūdhe mana sūdhe bacana sūdhī saba karatūti।
tulasī sūdhī sakala bidhi raghubara prema prasūti ॥

1. The husband at the wife

“No, I am going to throw these things out. Stop it. You will not interfere. This stuff has been sitting here for years. I am not turning our home into a storage facility. It is embarrassing enough already. You had your chance to put these away, into a proper place, and you failed. You are a hoarder; just own up to it already.”

2. The wife at the husband

“What are you doing? Don’t touch that. I made that for our son. You cannot have a single bite. If he decides to leave any behind, then maybe you can eat that. How can you be so selfish? You know you are not supposed to eat such things at your age.”

3. The sister at their brother

“Why did you go in my room? That is such a violation of privacy. I don’t care if you needed to borrow that marker. You could have waited for me to return home. I am going to tell on you. Mom will not be happy once she hears what you did.”

4. The children at the parents

“Dad, can you get off my case already? I am going to get a job. I promise. Let me relax a little. A lot of my classmates are taking a gap year. We need this to decompress. School was so stressful. It is not like back in your times, when no one had to worry about anything. We are living with genuine anxiety.”

5. The manager at the employees

“This has to be the most pathetic lot of individuals ever assembled. And I, of all people, have the misfortune of trying to manage you. You failed miserably in the latest task. We are the laughingstock of the company. But go ahead, celebrate the completion of our project; if you want to call it that. Please stuff your talentless faces with my mother’s delicious cupcakes.”

…

When someone fails at something due to lack of preparation, because they were preoccupied with something else or they didn’t take the task seriously enough, an observer might offer the following commentary:

“See, this is what happens when you don’t do your homework. When you think you can skip class all semester and squeak by at the end. Not everyone is skilled enough to cram the night before for the exam. If you want to finish a marathon, you have to train. You have to be able to run. I hope this episode has taught you a valuable lesson.”

In his Dohavali, Goswami Tulsidas gives a version of the same advice, except the objective is to come closer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is upasana, or worship, with the ultimate aim of merging into transcendence.

In other words, I put in the work now, but I hope to eventually remove the distinction. I want to be linked with the Divine Consciousness whether I am working or not, whether I am officially aligned with a particular discipline of spiritual life or not. The link should be part of my very existence. The dharma in practice should become the dharma in characteristic.

गतसङ्गस्य मुक्तस्य ज्ञानावस्थितचेतसः ।
यज्ञायाचरतः कर्म समग्रं प्रविलीयते ॥

gata-saṅgasya muktasya
jñānāvasthita-cetasaḥ
yajñāyācarataḥ karma
samagraṁ pravilīyate

“The work of a man who is unattached to the modes of material nature and who is fully situated in transcendental knowledge merges entirely into transcendence.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 4.23)

Tulsidas advises that our thoughts, words, and deeds should be pure, sudhe. The thoughts should be straightforward, without duplicity. The words should be to the point, not meant to unnecessarily cause agitation. The deeds should be as intended, from the outset. They should not deviate in purpose.

If there is purity and artlessness in the thoughts, words, and deeds, then it naturally follows that the vidhi will be pure and straightforward, as well. Vidhi is the means by which to attain love for the Supreme Lord, who is worshiped as Rama by Tulsidas.

That love will come easily, because the means are straightforward. If I am chanting the holy names without external motivation, without wanting to overtake others, without malice, without desire for personal ambition, then it is like Shri Rama is always with me.

If I am always yelling at this person, if I am constantly agitated, if I cannot think straight, if I am always distracted, then my regulative principles will suffer. This only makes sense. The gift of love, prema, for Shri Rama is valuable enough to make the wise person straighten up, to give up the anarthas and proceed in a positive manner.