Third Mantra for a Peaceful Life

My mantras are not the ones given by spiritual gurus which you need to chant repeatedly, my mantra is more of a guiding principle to lead a peaceful life.

I have written this article to be read independently so that, even if you have not read the article on the other two mantras, you will find nothing amiss. Those of you who wish to read about the first mantra can click here and to read the second mantra can click here.

The third mantra for a peaceful life is :
Treat every person with respect and dignity.

Extend the same level of respect you offer to god to every person you meet and interact in your daily life. You may not like the other person or that person may not be eligible for respect due to his doings, but never lower your standard by disrespecting anyone.

You start the practice of respecting others beginning from home. Your parents may not be the best in the world in fulfilling your desires and may not even be capable of providing you basic requirements, but they are doing the best based on their knowledge and experience. Respect them. Even though your siblings, spouse, children stay under the same roof, they are independent souls and deserve as much respect as you would extend to a stranger. All the relationships you have may not be buttery smooth, a few of them may require a little distance from you but let the respect remain intact.

I know it’s very difficult to respect that corrupt inspector, the blood sucking police man, the slimy politician, the cheating business man, the rude customer care executive, the indifferent shop keeper, the sloppy waiter, the arrogant staff at the hospital, the stone drunk man, the power drunk bureaucrats, the extortion of cab driver…you can add your own version of the person based on your experience. Even if you cannot respect the above mentioned characters, trying polite behaviour with them may earn you some brownie points for your peace of mind.

I have come across a variety of human specimens, some may respect you only when you have money, some for what benefit you can provide them, some for the skills you offer, some for the official powers that you have, some for the social and network connections you may have and so on. They will rarely respect you for your knowledge and wisdom but still respect them unconditionally.

When you visit an office you might encounter a person with indifferent attitude deeply drowning in his paper work and some haughty ones who don’t even offer a chair for you. Politely announcing your presence may help in some cases, patience for the haughty ones will ensure peace within you.

There is a golden rule that goes like
“Treat others how you want to be treated.”

Whether it’s the person in power or the road side sweeper offer equanimous respect to both of them. In every person including me, there is a good side and a bad side of our personality. By giving unconditional respect, we are pandering to the good side of the people’s personalities. With respectful approach you will get your work done easily from the other person whereas, an abusive and hasty person will face all kinds of problem in getting his work done from the same person.

My father was a shopkeeper and he used to treat people from every section of the society with equal respect and I have unconsciously imbibed the same quality from him. In my shop, whether a child comes to buy a 1rs. chocolate or a person buying 500rs. wellness product are treated with equal respect. The courier and delivery boys get their fair share of chocolates and they deliver my items in the first available time in the morning. My plumber, electrician and painter provide priority service to me. I experience indifferent treatment from some arrogant ones in social situations, sometimes, I ignore. Sometimes, I move on, making no effort to stay in such places. It’s not even remotely worth, when you compare it to your peace of mind.

Each person is facing life’s challenges and burden based on their knowledge and experience and we don’t know what’s going on inside their mind. They might have disrespected you in the heat of the moment or due to the situation itself. Many of them might even say sorry after the event. Just a single incident should not change our respect towards the person. There will be lapses in behaviour even from the best of the best persons because its human nature.

Inspite of your most respectful behaviour some people may never change. In such cases remove yourself from such social circles. If it is related to work place or home, where you cannot escape the situation, silence might be one of your most respectful behaviours.

The challenge of offering respect to a person who is not doing his duty properly, wasting your time in urgent matters, unruly crowd, the wayward vehicle driver are some problems which requires some brashness from our side. We cannot change people behaviour, at these moments if we remember this mantra of giving respect, atleast our response to the situation will be in a polite manner.

To conclude, I have given you three mantras for a peaceful life which I practice in my daily life :

1) To forgive and seek forgiveness
2) Gratitude and thankfulness
3) Treat every person with respect and dignity

Now, that you know the three mantras for a peaceful life, try practicing in your life and you can experience the changes yourself over a period of time. Do the practice with a genuine heart and not just for the sake of practice. I promise you many of the problems you face in your life will either vanish or you no longer will be overtly bothered by them.

Those of you who wish to read about the first mantra can click here and to read the second mantra can click here.

For any doubts regarding practice of these mantras in specific situations, you can ask me in the comments section. I wish you all a peaceful life.

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