When people reject, cheat or humiliate us, we may feel justified to hate them.

No matter how justified our feeling, it doesn’t change the reality that hatred hurts us far more than it can ever hurt those who have hurt us. Why? Because holding hatred in our heart is like holding burning coal in our hand constantly to find the right time for hurling it at an offender.

When hatred for someone becomes our driving emotion, we unintentionally let that hatred take over our heart. Such hatred is the flip side of material relationships divorced from spiritual reality. As opposed to letting love for someone rule our heart, we let hatred for that person rule. Either way, we perpetuate the illusion of living at the material level of consciousness.

Gita wisdom urges us to rise to the level of devotional relationships wherein we love Krishna and love all living beings in relationship with Krishna.

The Bhagavad-gita (12.13) indicates that those who love Krishna don’t hate anyone, but are the compassionate friends of all. Such devotees relish the fulfillment of loving Krishna and know that nothing compares to that sweetness. So, no matter what who does to them, they always keep their lives centered on loving service to Krishna and align all relationships accordingly. They try to share Krishna’s love with everyone and neglect those who rebuff their invitations to enter into Krishna’s circle of love. They may even do the needful against those who hurt their attempts to share Krishna’s love, but they never hate anyone. Their love for Krishna is too big to leave any room in their heart for hatred.

By striving to similarly center ourselves on Krishna, we too can fill our heart with love and crowd hatred out of it.

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 12 Text 13

“One who is not envious but is a kind friend to all living entities, who does not think himself a proprietor and is free from false ego, who is equal in both happiness and distress, who is tolerant, always satisfied, self-controlled, and engaged in devotional service with determination, his mind and intelligence fixed on Me – such a devotee of Mine is very dear to Me.”