Dealing with Hypocrisy - 09.15.09

Student Question: I work at a spiritual bookstore, and I always hear people talking about the spiritual path, but they don’t walk their talk. It really frustrates me, and I was just wondering about how do I deal with this? “This is a frustration that everyone feels actually and not just in relation to the spiritual path, but everyone feels that everyone’s doing everything wrong. This is a constant issue for the ego.” But, as Shunyamurti, the founder of the Sat Yoga Institute, reminds us, this is part of our spiritual practice: to be able to be in the face of hypocrisy and retain compassion for the other, like in the Bible verse, “Father forgive them they know not what they do.” So rather than correcting someone, take the opportunity to practice your compassion for them and that will be the greatest lesson that you can teach them. Recorded on the afternoon of Tuesday, September 15, 2009.