Patience... is it a virtue?

Very well said, Tetchie.

Why, thank you lecanis.

You have a lot of good points to consider.. First I agree with you on the fact that "If you give no reflection to an incident there is nothing to react at". But how do you reach that "no reflection" attitude? I am confused because I have read that the more a person can take insult and injury and still bear no illwill, the more he evolves towards Divinity. The one that does not react either to praise or insult is an enlightened man. Cowardice is in no case warranted for. The fact that you begin to fight at some point itself is a witness that we are not cowards. But some people can put up with a lot of misbehaviour... maybe they are waiting that some sort of conscience will make the other person stop and they take action only when they see no improvement. Like you said, if there is a way we can do that without imparting negatives towards the person impeding us, then it is fine. In case we are not able to find such a way, then how should we react that we don't fall back on our spiritual journey?

I agree that love is the most elevating characteristic in this world and that no animosity should be borne in mind against anyone.But, one thing I would like to point out is that it would be better to avoid any transaction and potentially controversial subjective issue with others. because in objective situations when people are in a club or working for some common cause this is different and can be handled even if one person does not behave well. But generally, if you analyse a situation objectively [the Sadhu's case is different and as I said he is a mentor and a preceptor and like the merchant who tore every bit of his cloth that was on sale,[remember the story where he showed enormous patience to the rude customer-I also have a vague recollection that it was Valluvar]]he teaches a lesson in patience..To the SADHU the rude man is insignificant, a pebble in his beach and being a saint he displays these saintly qualities. We can take the lesson from these people and apply it to cases where we have no direct transaction with the said person. If someone hurls abuse at us for no reason then we can just smile and walk away. But if we are in a situation that calls for cooperation by two or three grown up individuals ,1] they must have the same wavelength [to come to a compromise] 2] you can never teach an equal different sense of values --especially when they are adults and unless two people are willing to be totally objective and analytical , this is never possible in this world because we are all individualistic and have a multitude of perceptions. I believe in the virtue of patience but as I pointed out earlier we are all imperfect human beings and life has taught me to be emotionally detached if we should not get hurt. .We can only learn to agree to disagree in this world when we deal with equals, adults, and avoid potentially explosive situations. As far as I am concerned it is impossible for me to behave as patiently as even a percentage of how the Sadhu did. As I am a very mild person by nature who shies away from conflicts I have now come to this conclusion.My experiences and outcomes of my patience have made me write this.Once again it is purely subjective.We should never take things lying down and draw the line quickly.Everyone does draw the line and only idealistic people [like all of us ] take a long time to draw the line and then bottle our emotions when we are hurt

What you say is true for people who try to cheat others. I think knowing that a person is cheating you and still keeping quiet is cowardice. Firstly because the offender does not know that we know what he does. He will just think that he was successful in outwitting us. But can we not be patient and still stop the other person from cheating us? Can we not try to change the other person's attitude by making him realise that he is trying to do a mistake and we just want him to stop it knowing it is harmful to him as well as others. Is there no way of tapping a person's conscience instead of getting him to task? I agree saints and prophets are different than us. They know what to do to change a person's mind. But don't we have to learn a lesson from their lives - that love is the most powerful force on earth and anybody using love to change a person will most likely be successful. Because a man has both good and bad characteristics. There is always the possibility that the good conscience in him will tell him when pointed out by another in the most loving manner that he is wrong. But fighting will only make the offender go in defense mode. He will only try to justify his own actions rather than admit he is wrong.