Question: If we find that certain situations disturb us, should we avoid the situations or try to face them and cope with them?¹⁶¹

Sri Chinmoy: Avoiding a situation is not the right answer. You have to face the situation with your soul’s light. If you avoid a particular situation today, the wrong forces in that situation will only acquire more strength. Either they will think you are avoiding them because you are weak, or they will think you are avoiding them because it is beneath your dignity to deal with them. In either case, they will come against you with more power.

If you try to escape, you may escape temporarily, but eventually you will be caught. It is best to face a problem when it arises. But you should not face the situation in a military way; it is not that somebody is challenging you and you have to strike him. No, that is silly. Try instead to bring the divinity of the circumstances forward. If some undivine quality is inside an individual, it is not by striking or hitting him that you will overcome it but by becoming more friendly. You have to bring forward the divine qualities in the human being or in the incident that is causing the problem. Accept the situation with compassion and love, and eventually these unpleasant circumstances are bound to become pleasant, soulful and fruitful.