​Is brahmanas’ feeling hurt at just a harsh glance due to their sensitivity or their ego?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you.
See, brahmana was said to be very sensitive and so even if one glances at them in displeasure or anger or disrespect they mute the sensitivity. So, this could also be their ego. So, is it their sensitivity? Yeah, things can work both ways.
The point is that there is a hierarchy of punishments talked about in the Vedic literature. For example, brahmana should never be killed. Shudras can be given capital punishment, but not brahmanas.
That’s one of the reasons why Svatthama is not killed. Now, why is this? The point is that depending on the development of consciousness, one can perceive things which are subtler or not perceive things which are subtler. So, some people just need physical chastisement and punishment to learn lessons.
And that’s what they need. They have to be given, otherwise they would never learn. But that’s not required for everyone.
Many people, for some people, physical punishment may just become, they may take it more as an offence and they become more hostile. On the other hand, you give them explanations and they understand and they accept. So, people have different natures and what works for different people will be different.
So, in the case of brahmanas, they are intellectual. And because they are intellectual, they can observe things carefully and subtler things also. So, for example, rather than physical punishment, scripturally things are explained to them, that is much more persuasive.
And then, we don’t need it. So, shastra is the shastra for brahmanas. Shastra is the shastra by which they can correct people and others can correct them when it is required.
Because they have a developed consciousness, that developed consciousness can also work in a negative sense, that because they can sense small displeasures also. Some people are so gross that they can’t sense subtle things. But when they can sense subtler things, their capacity to sense subtler things can also work negatively that they sense small, small things and they take it too seriously.
They take it too seriously. So, sometimes there is that defect in brahmanas that they are sometimes set in short temper. They give curses on small, small provocations.
So, that is a part of a brahminical character, but that is not a desirable part. That is not a praised part. So, the increased sensitivity can, if not regulated properly, can lead to increased tendency to take offence.
Like if somebody disrespects me, I don’t even notice it, it’s not a problem. But if I notice it and I make a big issue of it, I don’t even have the sensitivity to notice it, that’s a problem. I have the sensitivity to notice it and I notice it and I leave it at that.
I notice it and they can make a big issue of it. That’s also a problem. So, in some cases, because the brahmanas have a capacity to be more sensitive, they notice things and then they aggravate things.
So, if that happens, that is, just like Durvasa Muni gets angry with Pandavish Maharaj. That is not, that is depicted in the scripture, but that is not depicted favorably. So, in terms of our practical application, what we have to recognize that brahmanical culture, just like it is said, the first class servant is one who understands the mind.
The second class is one who at least follows the instruction. Third class is one who follows the instruction. So, understanding the mind is considered higher.
That means there is a there is a emotional affinity. One can understand and sense the emotion. That is good.
But, that heightened emotional sensitivity can work in the opposite way also. So, nothing in the material world is a pure blessing. Just like being intellectual is a blessing because one can understand and understand the scripture.
But being intellectual can make one hyper-analytical also, over-intellectual, and then that can create unnecessary doubts, unnecessary obsessions with contradictions, or seeming contradictions. So, increased sensitivity to the Ramayana that can work both ways. So, Krishna says that Tathaguna is illuminating, but Krishna says Tathaguna is also binding.
It binds to a sense of knowledge and awareness. So, nothing in the material world is a pure blessing. We have to see how things work for us.
So, we should cultivate sensitivity so that we can especially if we are trying to serve someone, to understand what their mood is, what their purpose is. And we guide them accordingly, or we try to serve them accordingly. But, we have to be careful about how we deal with that extra sensitivity in terms of not getting obsessed with it.
It is to be adopted with the principle of utility. Utility is a principle. In general, that is an endowment which is there in the Ramayanas, and how they use it, that varies.
Clear?