To be naive is bad but so is to be cynical, better to be intelligent. When we are interacting with people, we can be naive where we just presume that everyone in the world is good and they want our good. Naive people are bound to be exploited by others sooner or later: but if we consider naivety to be one extreme of a pendulum, people who are naive and get exploited may go to the other extreme and become cynical; where they assume the worst about people and also assume – that those people are out to exploit them even when they might not be. A balanced state is to be intelligent and evaluate people on a case by case, situation by situation, basis and not make either entirely positive or negative assumptions about them.

Watch this content at: Naive or cynical – a balanced approach

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16.02 Nonviolence; truthfulness; freedom from anger; renunciation; tranquillity; aversion to faultfinding; compassion for all living entities; freedom from covetousness; gentleness; modesty; steady determination; … [– these transcendental qualities, O son of Bharata, belong to godly men endowed with divine nature.]