CONQUEST OF HATRED

CONQUEST OF HATRED

Perhaps the most debilitating and corrosive thought, that the human mind can harbor, is hatred, and every religion and every preacher, from the beginning of recorded history, has argued against this feeling and has emphasized the need for its total annihilation, to ensure the restoration of mental peace and tranquility. But the argument put forth by them, invariably is that the feeling of hatred is basically wrong and should therefore be avoided, like any other sin. However the feeling of hatred is so all pervading and universal, that a mere injunction to avoid it, simply, because it is a sin, may not be enough, to enable a person to eschew it totally, though he may be fully convinced, intellectually about the correctness of the stand. Therefore a more appealing and persuasive argument would appear to be necessary, if this objective, is to be effectively achieved.
It is in this context that the following thoughts occur to me as worthy of serious consideration.
It will be readily conceded by everyone, that the most important and precious thing in one’s life, is one’s own happiness and every action that one performs and every thought that one harbors, is directed, overtly or covertly, to the sole end of adding to, or enhancing this happiness. I can hear the howls of protest that this statement provokes. I can hear the vociferous objection from many of you, to the effect that this statement, taken at its face value, would make the entire human race, appear to be a very self centered and egoistic lot. I can hear you saying, that there are innumerable, great souls, preachers, and men of status, who perform acts of charity, day in and day out, without any selfish motive, whatsoever. I certainly concede that these benevolent acts are being performed, without expectation of any material return. I am only asserting that these actions are being performed, because, the performers believe that they are essentially good acts, whose execution, will give them a sense of satisfaction, which will ultimately, add to their inner happiness. No one in his right senses would perform any act of benevolence, solely, with the intention of making oneself feel miserable.
Even an act, such as fasting, or other forms of self-inflicted pain undertaken by a devotee, as a religious duty, or for that matter, even any physical suffering of a masochist, has the ultimate motive of only adding to his individual happiness.
The acceptability or otherwise of any thought or action should therefore be assessed solely against the yardstick of its capacity to add to one’s sense of happiness. Judged by this standard, all thoughts of hatred, fail miserably to make the grade, as will be clear from the following exposition.
Hatred is a mental process, and like any other mental process, it can sustain itself and find its fulfillment, only if and when it translates itself into an appropriate form of physical action. For example, the love one feels for a little child, which is basically a mental process, finds fulfillment, only when it is followed up by an appropriate physical action, such as patting the child on the head, or perhaps planting a kiss on its cheek. When the mental process is prevented from finding its fulfillment in a corresponding physical action, it invariably leads to frustration and despondency, which will detract from ones sense of happiness.
Now let us see how this dictum works out in the case of a feeling of hatred. When we hate a person, it begins initially, as a thought in the mind, which will start to clamor for physical expression to fulfill itself. The appropriate physical action in such a case will be to bring about some harm to the person hated, physically, mentally or by any other means. Now, causing such harm to the person hated, may, most often not be within the capacity of the hater to bring about. This lack of fulfillment, due to one’s inherent limitations, will lead to frustration and despair on the part of the hater and this, will undermine his happiness and make him feel miserable. It will therefore be clear that by hating a person, the actual sufferer is the hater himself, and the person hated may not even be aware of the hatred and he will therefore suffer no ill consequences because of it.
The bottom line, therefore, is that hatred, which takes birth, as a mental process, and which, because of its inherent inability to find fulfillment in an appropriate physical action, will undermine the peace and tranquility of the hater and lead to his becoming increasingly disillusioned and unhappy. Therefore the feeling of hatred is to be totally eschewed, not merely because it is a sin, but because it destroys one’s own peace of mind and happiness.
All that has been stated above will apply ipso facto to the other cardinal sin of jealousy also.