Man-made tensions often arise because of the people around us. We are troubled because another person doesn´t behave the way we want him or her to and that leads to mental tension in us. Similarly, we are also troubled and consequently become tense due to events happening around us and also elsewhere in the world. These events happen only because of people. Thus, the consequent tension is man-made.

        Changing the people and circumstances around us and preventing the occurrence of adverse events is never in our control. All we can do is to decide the way we will look or respond to such events. Our mental anguish is reduced to a considerable extent if we change our outlook or attitude towards the people troubling us and the events proving to be troublesome. Sometimes, our attitude can bring about a radical transformation in a person proving to be troublesome to us. In this context, let us consider the example of Shantabai. In the weekly sessions of our Adhyatma-Vidnyan Prabodhinis, the various tenets of spirituality are put forth from a scientific viewpoint but in a simple language that is easy to understand. As a result, several illiterate persons also attend the Prabodhini apart from intellectuals. Shantabai is one such illiterate lady. She once touched my feet and said, ´Oh God, you have really blessed me. You said that if a person doesn´t mend his behaviour despite being reminded a few times, then we should stop nagging him assuming that that person will continue to behave in the same old way. So I stopped nagging my husband to stop drinking. But now, he says that he doesn´t feel like drinking!´ ´ It is the outlook imparted by Adhyatma-Vidnyan that brought about the transformation in Shantabai´s husband. He stopped drinking. He changed so radically that he was chosen to be the secretary of the slum where he lived.

        It is only up to us to decide as to what extent, if at all, we should allow ourselves to be troubled by anything and to lose our mental balance. For this purpose, we should learn from Nature which has its own laws. Diversity is one such law of Nature. There is diversity in Nature everywhere around us. For instance, no two leaves of a tree are identical. Furthermore, the left and right side of our bodies are not alike. The same also holds good for man´s nature. Remembering this fact very firmly can go a long way in helping to reduce our mental anguish.