Kabir said, ‘Jo toko kaanta bue, tohe boe tu phool/ Tohe phool ko phool hain, waako hain tirsool’ – One who implants thorns for you, you produce flowers for him/ They are flowers to you but are tridents to him.
To reciprocate in an intelligently forgiving manner, silences your opponents. They feel terribly embarrassed and ashamed of themselves. The Biblical ‘offering the other cheek’ is another example of reciprocation, though it might appear to many as a sign of weakness. Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu signalled a winning smile to the apartheid South African regime when the oppressive government put them behind the bars and tortured them for years. The government had to relent and apartheid was abolished.
When someone gave a fusillade of abuses to the Buddha, the ever- calm Buddha asked him whether he still had a few more abuses to hurl. This is the quintessential art of reciprocation.
To answer with humility, intelligence, patience and wit is what we call wisdom and resilience in life. This is pragya, a notch higher than jnana.
