Tolerance: The Ornament of the Saints
By Swami Tripurari
Tolerance is a very valuable quality in a life of spiritual practice. When we tolerate our manifest karma, not reacting to happiness and distress with elation and delusion respectively, we exhaust our karma, rather than perpetuate it.
In the Bhagavad-gita, Arjuna’s mind was disturbed due to being attached to sense objects in the form of his relatives. Krishna had already instructed him about the difference between the self and the physical body; however, because Arjuna’s mind remained disturbed, Krishna distinguished the self from the subtle mental/emotional body. In doing so he spoke of tolerance as follows:
O son of Kunti, happiness and distress are temporary experiences that arise from perception of the senses in conjunction with the mind. Heat, cold, pleasure, and pain come and go, and you, O descendant of Bharata, must learn to tolerate them.1
Because the self is the witness of the many changes of the mind, such as happiness and distress, it must be different from them and changeless, for an entity subject to change cannot be a witness of that change. As the self is different from the gross body, so too is it different from the subtle body, which consists of various states of the fluctuating mind.
The experience of happiness and distress differs from that of heat and cold inasmuch as heat and cold can be either enjoyable or distressful, whereas happiness and distress remain the same. First, Krishna speaks regarding the universal and then regarding the personal level. All of these experiences are relative to the mind’s wedding with the senses and their apprehension of sense objects. That which is at one time hot may be cold at another. That which brings happiness may later be the cause of distress. These mental perceptions create a world in which the self lives without knowledge of itself, in the world of the mind. The first step out of this small world is theoretical knowledge, followed by tolerance.
Tolerance is required no matter how one lives, and tolerance is, after all, a virtue. Yet the virtues of tolerating are certainly greater when based on living in the bigger picture of life described in the sacred literature. The world of the mind is a small world. What is good for one may be experienced as bad for another, one’s happiness is another’s sadness. Ultimate reality is bigger than the mind, and this is what the sacred literature informs us about. The beginning of realizing and living in this bigger picture beyond the duality of sense perception is tolerance.
By addressing Arjuna in terms of both sides of his noble family heritage (Kaunteya and Bharata) Krishna strongly suggested that Arjuna should take the noble path of tolerance in relation to dualities, knowing them to be mere fluctuations of the mind. Krishna next tells Arjuna what the virtues of tolerance are.
Indeed, the one who tolerates these dualities of sense perception, O Arjuna, such a wise person to whom happiness and unhappiness are thus the same, is eligible for eternal life of self-realization.2
Such are the virtues of the tolerance Krishna recommends. At this point, for the first time in this great treatise, Krishna mentions self-realization, which takes one beyond material happiness and distress. Material happiness invariably turns to unhappiness in its absence. Thus one should tolerate both happiness and distress knowing them to be one and the same in the ultimate issue. From a world of apparent variety one must learn to identify with its underlying unity.
Srimad-Bhagavatam teaches us further about tolerance. Not only is tolerance necessary if we are to distinguish ourselves from the body and mind, it is also required if we are to know God. One who acknowledges that his happiness and distress in life are that which he is due—his prarabdha karma—and thus tolerates these two, is the rightful heir to the kingdom of God. This is the message of the Bhagavata (See SB 10.14.8). It tells us that our happiness and distress are our karma, behind which is the sanction of God. We are to tolerate not only because happiness and distress are mere fluctuations of the mind and thus categorically different from ourselves, but moreover because they can be traced to the sanction of God in deference to the principle of justice (karma).
In the language of Sridhara Maharaja, “The environment is friendly.” The problem, however, is that we do not react to this friendly environment appropriately. But if we are to see the environment for what it is we must change our angle of vision. And for this Sri Caitanya has told us to sing Krishna Nama while cultivating tolerance like that of a tree, and humility like that of a blade of grass.
Tolerance: A Prayer to Radha-Madhava
O tolerance, ornament of the saints,
when will you decorate my soul?
Then I will have but to gain
no tolerance for faults my own.
Is it that which I see in others
that keeps you from my heart?
a quirk, a sin, your absence in
those I cannot with be part.
No, the problem lies within my soul
where his remembrance does not dwell.
More tolerant than a tree he taught,
our Mahaprabhu so well.
Through Haridasa he lived this truth
whose life’s example showed;
tolerance is Sri Nama’s virtue
as no other has bestowed.
To tolerate I must begin
to sing Sri Nama’s song,
and tolerance will come to me
but will not remain long.
For tolerance is meant to be
towards others, not myself.
When can I no longer tolerate within
this cause of separation from your Selves?
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Is there anything specific about Arjuna’s two family lines that Krsna is calling attention to regarding tolerance, or is it just that both dynasties are noble and therefore doubly emphasizing that Arjuna should “measure up” by developing tolerance?
Love the poem! Our separation from the “Selves” is caused by our tolerance of our own faults and intolerance of others’…
Thank you,Swami B. V. Tripurari for this very helpful article. It is just what I needed to hear.I Hope I will be able to absorb its message just like some medicine. your servant,by the mercy of Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga,Mohini dasi
Thank you Swami BV Tripurari for reminding me with your expert insight.One of my short coming’s is patience a quality of enduring.Like you said i need to remember the big picture.
Examining my own lack of tolerance, I find pride in its place. Far from a beautifying ornament, pride is instead most unbecoming–a polite way of saying very ugly–and it blocks the ability to recognize beauty in others, especially in sadhakas who, though perhaps not perfected yet, are giving their lives on the path of loving service to Krsna.
Sadhu-sanga, as opposed to simply reading the books, opens the door to revealing the anarthas in the heart, which can then be recognized for what they are and gradually disposed of. Thank you, Maharaja, for sharing that sanga with us.
But that’s just half of the equation: As Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and all our acaryas have taught, even in a wretched condition, wholeheartedly take shelter of and give ourselves to Sri Nama Prabhu, for it is by his grace that the material energy will give way to the divine.