Acharya Mahaprajna
There is a criterion of mental health. A person, whose mind is healthy, conducts himself well towards those who do him good, and also towards those who do him ill. He is good for both the well-intentioned and the evil-minded. That the person confronting one is sick is no reason why one should become sick oneself. Should one start vomiting oneself it one sees another person vomiting? A person, who possesses a healthy mind, cannot do so. Only that person indulges in hostile conduct, whose mind is weak, sick. Those who coined the maxim, 'Tit for tat", were mentally unhealthy. Had they been healthy, such maxims would not have come into vogue. If the person confronting you is mentally unhealthy, it is all the more reason that you should present before him in yourself an example of good health and provide him with an opportunity to distinguish for himself the difference between a sick and a healthy mind.
Attachment to one person or thing and aversion to another person or thing implies partiality, i.e., inequity. Without comprehending the effects of injustice born of attachment and aversion, no man can be free from mental prejudice.
If a person is pursuing an evil path, to try to bring him to the right path is our duty. But this duty should not fulfilled through the use of brute force. If, despite our effort to change his mind the person concerned perseveres in his evil course, all we can do is to wait patiently till be realizes his error. In no way can it be right for us to indulge in anger, to becloud our mind and to make the situation yet more complicated. By trying to maintain his mental equilibrium in a critical situation and environment through strong dedication to justice and with faith in the principle of bringing about a change of heart in the other person a man can help foster the culture of the middle path. Lord Mahavira said: "He who is established in the culture of the middle path should say to the man who is not so established, 'For truth, you should take the support of the golden mean.'
