Vedic Psychology – OFFENSIVE DEVOTEE
Vedic Psychology

Vedic Psychology – OFFENSIVE DEVOTEE

QUESTION:

I am having a very hard time processing feelings of anger and disgust toward a fellow devotee. I have been in the company of this person for many years due to unchangeable circumstances and have witnessed them verbally abusing, insulting, harshly criticising and speaking in very confronting and disturbing ways, These actions have caused many devotees to leave my association (as I am in vicinity to this person) and some have perhaps even given up their spiritual practices due to this behaviour. A few years ago after an incident I formally confronted this person, with the help of some other people. The person in question took it well and acknowledged all that we said, and has since made strong efforts to rectify the worst of it. However, by nature this person is domineering, over-confident and sharply critical, so even without the major offensive behavior, I still find them very difficult to be around. But now, my mind replays episodes of their old behaviour and continues to harbour feelings of disgust and anger, usually in a sort of mental rampage, and I find it impossible to reign it in.
angry womanMy question is: how can I cultivate some tolerance? how can I stop my mind from entering into these rampages, or how can I reign it in once it has started? It seems apparent to me that this is a matter of my karma and that I must change my own attitude somewhat in order to deal with this, but I am currently finding it very difficult. I try very hard not to ‘fan the flames’ of my anger by keeping my distance, but sometimes I am provoked by even a tiny trigger and I my mind cascades down into tamo-guna. Then my sadhana and natural enthusiasm for spiritual life become nil and I become very depressed. I will be very very grateful for your guidance on this matter as it has been going on for many years and I desperately need to move on from it.

 

ANSWER:

It is very good that this situation has caused you to become aware of your emotions. You also made an astute observation about the nature of the mind, and how difficult it is to control when it becomes disturbed. That takes humility, honesty, and sincerity to admit these things and ask for help. You have already taken a very important first step – especially for anyone who aspires to maintain a healthy, peaceful mind. The majority of people are not aware of their emotions at all. In fact, they do not acknowledge their feelings, which causes them to come forth uncontrollably sometimes. In the case of anger, it can be expressed explosively, or it can be turned inward and cause physical or mental disease such as heart problems, or depression. As you mentioned that sometimes when you get triggered, you become very depressed and your, “natural enthusiasm for spiritual life becomes nil.” That means that on these occasions you have let the thing that disturbs you take your mind away from Krishna. In these instances, your mind has gone to its lower nature, which is to have dislike, and then become angry.

Therefore, just acknowledging your feelings is not enough to control the volatile mind, which is why you still have experienced your mind going on a rampage at times even when you recognized the emotions. The mind cannot be controlled without using the buddhi, your intelligence, which requires understanding of how the unconscious mind works in order to take control. Once you have this understanding, you will be able to apply this wisdom, using it as the reigns to control the wild mind.

Using the Jiva Vedic Psychology approach, we search for the root cause of the problem, which is never what it seems to be at first glance. In other words, the root cause of your problem is not this disturbing devotee with whom you are in association. The root cause of your problem is two fold:

  1. First, the mental disturbance lies inside of you, inside of your chitta (unconscious mind). In fact, the problem has been there a lot longer than this devotee has been in your life. Your chitta is the storehouse of all of your past experiences—filed away as memories, with the corresponding emotions attached. Our memories that were created in the first 10 years of our life are generally the most emotionally potent ones, as we did not have the buddhi power to comprehend many situations that were painful. So, the memories lie there in our chitta, with those painful undigested feelings attached to them, and then they get triggered in adulthood. In your case, when you are feeling angry at the devote, the anger is actually originating from painful feelings from the past. These feelings come flooding back and overwhelm us. The confusing part is because these memories and associated emotions are in our unconscious mind, we are completely unaware of them. We have no idea that is what is happening to us when it happens. That is why we blame the person who is disturbing us. It is like if we didn’t know of the concept of a mirror, and then we looked in the mirror and saw some food stuck on our face, and we got upset at the mirror and tried to get the food off of the mirror instead of off our face. This is similar to what happens when we get angry at another person. So another way you can view this devotee who is disturbing your mind, is perhaps as a window into your chitta, which you would not otherwise be able to see what is lying in your unconscious mind so clearly. It is only when a person experiences emotional discomfort that maybe—just maybe—they are willing to finally look inside themselves. So you have come across a good fortune if you are willing to take it in that way.
  2. Second, your mind is not fixed on Krishna. If your mind was fixed on Krishna, then it does not have any space for anything else other than love for Him. As Krishna states in the Bhagavad Gita, “Fix your mind on Me, become My devotee, worship Me, and offer obeisance’s to Me. Uniting the self with Me in this manner and being intently devoted to Me, you will attain me alone.” (9.34). In thinking about Krishna’s words, He has made it clear how to attain Him. It is also said that whatever you are thinking of at the time of death, you will attain that. So, it is good to remember this each time you let your thoughts slip to this devotee who angers you. One thing for sure is that if you would like to see this devotee again and again, lifetime after lifetime, then you should keep becoming disturbed and angry with him because this will ensure continued relation and karma with this person. If you would like to be united with Krishna eternally, then meditate on His words.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

We know, however, that fixing your mind on Krishna is not so easy, otherwise, we all would have done it by now. Here are some steps you can take to help clear and calm your mind so it can be easier to fix it on Sri Krishna.

  1. Identify Your Feelings. The first step is what you have already successfully done—recognizing your feelings and specifically identifying what feelings are there. You had mentioned anger and disgust. Write those feelings down, and then try to describe what about that person makes you feel those feelings. In this specific case, it seems that when the person criticizes others and speaks in harsh ways, you find it intolerable. In your writing, elaborate on these feelings.
  1. Try to Find a Match from Childhood Experience. Realizing that the problem does not have to do with the other person, but what is inside your chitta, try to find what the current person that is troubling you has in common with some people in your childhood (usually authority figures—mom, dad, older brother, teacher), and how they treated you and made you feel. For example, was your father critical of you, domineering, overly-confident, or harsh to you in some way as a child? Continue to dig and ask yourself, what is the root of this feeling of anger and disgust? It is important to understand that if you did not have a childhood experience of the feelings similar to the feelings triggered by how this devotee is treating you, then you would not be so disturbed by this devotee.
  1. Take Responsibility for your Emotions, Don’t Blame Others and Try to Get Them to Change. Once you realize the samskara (memory) that has been activated by this current situation with the critical devotee, then you have to take responsibility for it completely. This means that you do not ask the devotee to change, just to make your mind feel less disturbed. That only works short-term. As you can see from your own example, your mind is still disturbed, even though you asked the devotee to change and he did change somewhat. Actually, even if the devotee changed completely just for your sake, your problem would not go away. What will happen if another new devotee comes into your association whom you can’t escape, who is even more domineering, and critical? You will never gain control over your emotions if you try to get others to change. You will only feel exhausted, frustrated, irritated, and depressed.
  1. Process Your Feelings. Acknowledge these old feelings from childhood and let yourself cry, scream, or whatever you need to do to express and process those feelings that have been pent up inside of you. You may need to speak with a psychotherapist who is skilled and can help you to process these old feelings.
  1. Use your Awareness. The next time you start having those feelings of anger and disgust about this devotee, catch yourself at the very onset of the feelings. Tell yourself that 90% of the intense feelings you are feeling now have nothing to do with this devotee, and everything to do with the childhood samskara that got triggered. Tell yourself that you are not going to let an old painful memory overwhelm you and control your mind.
  1. Direct your mind back to Sri Krishna. Tell yourself that you have the choice to fix your heart on Him or on the devotee who disturbs your mind. You can control your mind and you can make a wise decision. If your anger is too strong, and you are not able to fix your mind on Krishna, then at least share your heart with Krishna. Tell Him what is bothering you. Ask for His advice and for Him to stay close to you during this turbulent time. Don’t only come to Him when you think you are perfect. Show Him your blemishes too. In true love you share everything. Share it all with Him. You can also ask yourself one question: Why would you choose to fix your mind away from Krishna? For each time you let the anger control your mind, you are turning your back to the source of eternal love.

5 Comments

  • keerthi appa rao September 11, 2017

    Everybody will face this type of persons in our groups who are disturing one one way or other. Take them unheeded with the help of Krishna’s constant rememberance. Only surrender to the Master will keep us removing these unnecessary feelings.

  • Sarva September 11, 2017

    Thanks to the author of this insightful article. Very helpful in dealing, not only with challenging relationships, but with all the challenges that remain stuck in our chitta.

  • Parameswara das September 11, 2017

    After reading I conclude that it is neccessary to work every day trying to understand what is wrong with us, because it is really important to know ourselves better in order to advance in our spiritual development

  • Gene September 12, 2017

    Though I take both of the authors points, both looking inwardly to discover why we are reacting the way we are reacting and to always turn our consciousness inwards and upwards towards Krishna, I also have the following commentary:

    While dealing with our reactions to things is 90% of the battle and by controlling our reactions we can achieve some semblance of contentment and peace which will foster a devotional spirit, that does not excuse, nor should we condone, untoward behavior of anyone within our circle of influence. Such permissiveness only serves to train the offender that their behavior is acceptable. Condoning such behavior may lead to creating a toxic environment that is not conducive to spiritual growth or worse. The spiritual community should come first. The question then arises, “is this persons behavior something I can change?” or ” Is this within my sphere of influence?” If the answer is a resounding “no”, then the next questions that may proceed are, “Can I enlarge my sphere of influence to compassionately resolve the offenders behavior?” If not, then we may have to excuse ourselves from the company of the offender(s) completely.

    Somewhere along the way the notion of “not fault finding” has been distorted beyond its intended use to the point where physical, sexual, and emotional abuse become accepted in order to avoid being labeled as a “fault finder”. The OP stated they directly approached the offender. That is the proper course of action. Fault finding refers to the idea that we are so focused on others that we cannot or will not examine ourselves. It also refers to those who gossip and backstab and all other forms of unspiritual activities that arise in the mind of a sick person.

    I, for one, live in a spiritual community in which the powers that be have created a toxic environment the places value of projects over people. Bans people from the temple if they do not speak, act, think or even read in a certain manner. Because it is outside my sphere of influence to take on the “management”, I have had to make the hard decision of avoiding the community at large, even though most in the community are sincere devotees only seeking to develop Krishna Bhakti. This has weighed heavily on my heart for a couple months now so have had ample opportunity to examine this issue in detail.

    In the end I must seek the association of elevated devotees, itself a value judgement of sorts and avoid those who are on a seemingly intractable path away from Krishna Prem. A challenging task indeed.

    Hari Bol!

    • Babaji September 12, 2017

      You have made a very valuable comment on the topic of abuse by a devotee. Every situation is different and has to be studied carefully without getting emotional. The reply given in this post is not a general reply for every similar situation. It is specifically directed towards the questioner. Your situation may not be exactly the same and thus you have taken a different course of action.
      Whatever action is taken, it should be done with a balanced state of mind. That is the key point. Whether you need to confront and call a spade a spade or move out of the association, both should be done with a balanced mind. We do not propose that in the name of avoiding “fault-finding” abuse should be tolerated.
      Ultimately, one has to see what is best for one’s own spiritual progress, because that is the purpose of being in a spiritual community. One must take the current situation to study one’s own mind, besides trying to rectify the situation, if at all possible and within one’s capacity and means.

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