In English
Then comes the equal-mindedness relating to society. Praise and blame, loss and gain, victory and defeat are not to be regarded as opposites of each other. They follow each other. We will take praise and blame. We should go into this matter and examine the same in some detail. Both blame and praise establish man’s steadiness. They appear as if they are contradictory to each other, but, in fact, they are not. That which takes you to a respectable position will also bring you down. As you are being praised, blame will also grow alongside. When we go on digging a well, a heap of mud will also grow alongside. The deeper we go into the well, the higher will the accumulated mound be. The well will be described as a deep hole while the mound will be described as a heap of mud. We think that the hole, which corresponds to deep well, is blame while the heap corresponds to praise. But when we put the heap of mud into the well, it gets closed. In this context, the mud from the well and the mud in the heap are the same. Once we realise that this is, in fact, so, we will not be afraid of criticism or blame. We will develop an equal-minded attitude for praise and blame. If there is no mound, we cannot close the well. We should recognise the important connection which established that, as the mound grows higher and higher, the well goes deeper and deeper. Some people will look at the depth of the well while others look at the height of the mound. The correct attitude will be to look at both with the same mind. Only when man can look at both these with the same attitude, will he be able to progress along the sacred path.