Through a formation,
a mental formation. When somebody is very ill-willed and wants
to harm you, his will is expressed more or less; at times he does
not dare to acknowledge this to himself for he would feel ashamed,
but that may come spontaneously. Or else, it may be as with malicious
people, something shut up very deep in the consciousness, all
the time there, like that, stirring up their spite; and then there
are violent people who wish that a calamity may befall those who
have caused them some so-called harm or have displeased them for
some reason or other… Anyway, that is it, it belongs to the
field of formation; and it is so strong that if you just pass
by someone who has a manifest ill-will, you may suddenly feel
very uneasy.
How to handle Ill-will
Now, if you have a
little knowledge and consciousness, you can become aware of the
reason, and then, when one realises the reason, there is only
one thing to do, just this (gesture), as one brushes off a fly.
Flies are very troublesome and come back again and again; and
evil formations, take care!, have the same habit as flies. You
brush flies away, they return, you brush them away again, again
they return. They think it is a game. Have you never remarked,
flies take this as a game? truly, even as they are sent away,
they return. Only, if at a particular moment you become angry,
you get into a temper and do this (gesture), even if you do not
touch it, the fly will not come back. It feels it. Try, you will
see.
A Bad Thought is
a Bad Act
But a bad thought is
a bad act. There are people who do not know it, but truly a bad
thought is a bad act and if one thinks and wishes harm to someone,
well, one is responsible for the misfortunes that come upon him
just as much as though one had acted. But the unfortunate thing
is that this is not recognised and that never does one intervene
in the bad thoughts of people… There are even people who
take great pleasure in inciting the bad thoughts of others. I
have known such people (unfortunately far too many), when they
have something unpleasant to say to somebody, they never miss
the opportunity of telling him: "You know, somebody said
that about you", and also: "You know, that other person
said this about you." And thus they create as much harm as
they think of. And this they do at times simply through stupidity,
most often through vanity, in order to show off that they know
something. But at bottom, in the consciousness, there is what
is called mischief-making - something that enjoys creating disorder,
misunderstandings, disputes among people, unpleasant situations,
and feels at ease amidst these. There are many people with a very
sharp tongue. It is called in French "une langue de vipere",
a viperish tongue. This is their great amusement. And they do
much, much, much harm. But even without speaking, if one has a
strong thought and thinks ill of people, one does a bad deed.
- The
Mother
