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He watched as the saint carefully and gingerly lifted the
creature out of the water, only to fling it back in as his
hand convulsed in pain from each fresh sting. Finally, the
hunter said to the sadhu, “Revered Swamiji, forgive me for
my frankness, but it is clear that the scorpion is simply
going to continue to sting you each and every time you try
to carry it to safety. Why don’t you give up and just let
the evil creature drown?”
The holy man replied, “My dear child, the scorpion is not
stinging me out of malice or evil intent. It is simply his nature
to sting. Just as it is the water’s nature to make me
wet, so it is the scorpion’s nature to sting in order to protect
himself. He doesn’t realize that I am carrying him to
safety. That is a level of conscious comprehension greater
than what his brain can achieve. But, just as it is the
scorpion’s nature to sting, so it is my nature to save. Just
as he is not leaving his nature, why should I leave my nature?
My dharma is to help any creature of any kind, human
or animal. Why should I let a small scorpion rob me of
the divine nature which I have cultivated through years of
sadhana?”
In our lives we encounter people who harm us, who insult
us, who plot against us, and whose actions seem calculated
simply to thwart the successful achievement of our
goals. Sometimes these are obvious acts, such as a coworker
who continually steals our ideas or speaks badly
of us to our boss. Sometimes these acts are more subtle –
a friend, relative or colleague who unexpectedly betrays
us or whom we find has been surreptitiously speaking
negatively about us behind our back. We often wonder
“How could he/she hurt me like that? How could they do
this to me?” Then, our hearts become filled with anger and
pain, and our minds start plotting vengeance.
Slowly we find that our own actions, words and thoughts
become driven by anger and pain. We find ourselves engaged
in thoughts of revenge. Before we realize it, we are
injuring ourselves more by allowing the negative emotions
into our hearts than the other person injured us by his
words or actions. She insulted us, plotted against us or interfered
with a well-deserved achievement at work. But
we injure ourselves more deeply and more gravely by allowing
our hearts and minds to turn dark.
Our dharma is to be kind, pure, honest, giving, sharing,
and caring. Others, due to ignorance, due to lack of understanding
(much like the scorpion who doesn’t understand
the sadhu’s gentle intention) or due to the way in
which their own karmic drama must unfold, may act with
malice, deceit, selfishness and indifference. But we must
not let their actions or their ignorance deprive us of fulfilling
OUR dharma. We must not allow ourselves to be lowered
by their ignorance, their habits or their greed. The
darkness in their heart should not be allowed to penetrate
into the lightness of our hearts.
Sometimes people ask, “But Swamiji, how long should we
continue to tolerate, to forgive, to love in the face of other
people’s aggression, jealousy, hatred and malice?” The
answer is forever. It is not our job to hand out punishment
to others based on their negative actions. That is God’s
job and the job of the law of karma. They will get their
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