Love does not give up; it has great energy and patience

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

Question: Sir, there are many things that we are taught in our HIDP classes (Holistic Individual Development Programme) that go against the societal norms; and following them would hurt a few people related to me but I want to follow them. How can I implement all these things in my life, without hurting the feeling of others?

Acharya Prashant (AP): First of all let us observe that there are a few things that I might understand but that go against the grain of what certain others stand for. What I understand puts me in conflict with others. How many of us have experienced it?

(Some listeners raise their hands)

We know the other person only in our own context. Do we really understand the other person in his totality? You know the other person only as an image you have of him. Let me just say that it will be extremely ignorant of us to think that our parents will not understand these simple things that we understand. There are many students who would come up and say this, ‘I have understood but my parents will not understand’. Don’t you think that it is extremely arrogant of us to say that I can understand but they can not understand and their feelings would be hurt?