Insults and Maha Shivratri – What is the connection?

“It is a tremendous strength to be able to digest an insult.” - Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan

The festival of Maha Shivratri is observed in honour of Lord Shiva. He is known as nilkanthi because He drank poison, which would otherwise have destroyed the world, with a smiling face.

How does this apply to your life today?

Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan says, “When you drink the poisons this world serves you [when you accept all suffering, mistreatment, abuse etc., that you receive at the hands of others], then you too become Shankar or Shiva. If anyone abuses you and insults you and you accept it with equanimity, and you bless that person, you become Shankar. Equanimity cannot be maintained all the time but when you bless your aggressor, it can be attained. If you try to maintain only equanimity it can backfire so you must also bless your aggressor.”

Your pride will be uprooted when a person who insults you appears to be your benefactor. The person who insults should be considered a benefactor, instead people get depressed when they are insulted.

What happens if you learn how to digest insults?

Karmic account gets cleared: When you hurt someone knowingly or unknowingly you bind demerit karma. By digesting insults, accepting mistreatment or abuse with this right understanding that your karmic account is being cleared, then you will progress on your path of becoming Shiva.

Inner strength increases: With the power to survive in adverse circumstances, our inner strength increases, which in turn helps you to tackle any situation that arises in the future because your common sense increases. Not only that your personality becomes strong also.

Better relationships: You will no longer attack the opposite person in an argument and say hurtful words, which you later regret, once you learn to digest insults. This will have a positive effect on your relationships.

Situation calms down faster: If you stop reacting negatively then other people will start to notice. They will observe that you are not affected and therefore they will calm down faster.

These are just some of the benefits of digesting insults, which are unknown to the world. In fact, the world believes that digesting an insult is a weakness, but it is in reality a strength.  

So this Maha Shivratri let us decide to start our spiritual journey towards becoming Shiva with this right understanding from Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan.