Question: How can a person detach himself emotionally from irritating people and situations?¹⁵³

Sri Chinmoy: First you have to identify yourself with the person who is creating the irritation. Suppose you are in your office and somebody is creating unnecessary problems. If you get angry with him, that will not solve the problem. Instead, you will be tortured inwardly by your anger even while you are being tortured outwardly by the person. If you allow yourself to become angry, you will only lose your own inner strength. But if you come down to the standard of that person and identify with him, you will see that he himself is very unhappy and, therefore, consciously or unconsciously he is trying to make others unhappy as well. The moment you identify with the person who is creating the situation, half your irritation will go away. At the same time, your presence inside that person’s ignorance will take away half the strength of his attack.

Another way to avoid becoming involved in irritating situations is to invoke peace. For a spiritual person, it is always advisable to bring down peace from Above. While invoking peace you will feel enormous strength inside you and around you. The power of inner peace is infinitely greater, infinitely more solid and concrete, than any outer situation that anybody on earth can create. Your inner peace can easily devour the irritation that somebody else causes you.

If you are in the office, it may be difficult to invoke peace. If you pray in front of others, they will only misunderstand you and mock you. But if there is a quiet corner where you can meditate undisturbed by others and bring down peace, then you can do it even in your office. Otherwise, the best thing to do is to invoke peace during your morning and evening meditations, and to keep that peace locked inside your heart to be used whenever you need it most during the day.

From:Sri Chinmoy,My meditation-service at the United Nations for twenty-five years, Agni Press, 1995
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