How do I avoid the comments made by others?

Following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Questioner: How can I avoid the comments made by others about me?

Acharya Prashant: How can you avoid? There is no way! There are so many people, so many mouths. Is there a way to avoid? Is there a way to prevent people from speaking? There is no way! Even if you prevent them from speaking, is there a way to prevent them from thinking? There is no way!

So what does one do?

You can have very little control over ‘that’, the things happening in the world, but you can observe the effect it has on ‘this’, the mind. Because your suffering lies not ‘there’ but ‘here’. You suffer in your mind. Right? You don’t suffer somewhere else. And if you suffer in the mind then let the action be on the mind itself.

‘This’ is what needs to be taken care of. Why are you so obsessed with what others are saying? Why can’t you ask, “Sir, what to do with this mind that gets affected by everything that happens outside?”

Take care of the mind, not the people, because they cannot be taken care of.

Realize that by allowing others to affect you, you are becoming their slave. Realize that a free mind is one which has the power to look at itself. That is the ultimate…