Tolerance & Intolerance

tolerance and intolerance both are negative. normally tolerant and intolerant one happens to be. mundane affairs push one to that end. not willing even one can't help. to tolerate is to tolerate the intolerable which is painful. not to tolerate is to think, speak or act against something or someone that one fails to tolerate. this also is painful. thinking, speaking and acting to get rid of that which is intolerable may entail further kinds of repurcussions and challenges which may be even worse. this is the predicament of arjuna in the mahabharata. he neither could tolerate pandavas' plight nor could he initially stand the challenges of the battle !

what then may be the solution to see some better light in our day to day unpleasant situation ? everyday at the day's end you may be carrying home tolerances and intolerances of various kinds ! the baggage may empty your possibilities of domestic happiness or happiness in office the following day. you certainly can't leave home or leave office. suppose you do so, where you go next, there too the same things will follow.

here the lord meets the situation by turning to tolerance and intolerance with a dose of equanimity which simply smiles in the face of all odds. na dainyam na palaayanam: neither self-pity nor flight !  then should one fall idle, lie down and show the other cheek to the tormentor ? no, one should act in the present but without acrimony, unrest and unruliness. negative forces provoke you to take to war in mind, speech and sudden burst of action, but positive force approaches you with calm fortitude and conviction and gently leads you to righteous action. this is dharma which is an outcome of the power of goodness. and certainly this culminates in goodness all around. but it's difficult to tolerate the apparently intolerable and more hazardous it may be to go intolerant and hasten to think, speak and act under satans of all kinds !