Those Who Scorn at Everyone Are Just Lowly People

अति कुपिता अपि सुजना
योगेन मृदूर्भवन्ति न तु नीचाः
हेम्नः कठिनस्यापि द्रवणोपायोऽस्ति न तृणानाम्

Two kinds of people are being spoken about here: Sujana and Neecha.

Neecha means lowly—those whose existence is animalistic, those who have not developed the characteristics befitting a human being, those who have not cultivated the qualities expected of a human.

What are these characteristics?

Knowledge, education, austerities such as self-control, good behavior, and righteousness. Someone who doesn’t have these is just an animal in human form. These are the lowly people—the Neechas.

They have another characteristic—they will find fault with anything and anyone.

• If a person is humble and courteous, they will say he is scared, lacks self-confidence, and does not assert himself.
• If a person is spiritual, goes to temples, or does puja, they will call him superstitious—'In this scientific age, who does all this?'
• 'Work hard and get what you want. Be smart and get what you want. God and all—just superstition!'
• If they see a noble person, a saint, or a sanyasi, they would say, 'Must be a fraud! See how many of them are behind bars—all are frauds!'
• If they see a strict police officer who enforces the law for the benefit of everyone, they would call him inhuman.
• If someone meditates, they would say, 'Dumb lazy fellow! How can you sit like that without doing anything?'
• If someone talks nicely to everyone, they would say, 'See, he can stoop down in front of anyone. Or we don’t know what his real intentions are—such a sweet talker. Tomorrow he will come with an insurance policy or some fancy business scheme.'
• If someone is talented in acting, music, or medicine, they would say, 'See how arrogant he is.'
• If someone is an orator, they would say, 'Keeps on blabbering. He doesn’t know when to talk or what to talk.'
• If someone is just leading a simple, balanced, stable life, minding his own business, they would say, 'He is in a comfort zone. He doesn’t want to come out of it.'

These are another kind of lowly people.

Now, let’s understand the first shloka:

अति कुपिता अपि सुजना
योगेन मृदूर्भवन्ति न तु नीचाः
हेम्नः कठिनस्यापि द्रवणोपायोऽस्ति न तृणानाम्

It says that good, noble people—even if they get extremely angry with you for some reason—can be convinced. Once they understand your situation, or if you apologize to them when you have been wrong, they will become normal. They will pardon you. They will come forward and start helping you.

This is the characteristic of good, noble people. They are like gold. No matter how hard gold is, there is a way to melt it. Sooner or later, it will melt.

But can you ever melt a blade of grass? No. No matter what you do, it will not melt.

Lowly people are like grass. They are obstinate, adamant in their stand—'I have said so. Do what you want; I will not change.' This is their nature. They are never ready to reconcile.

But then, compare the value of both—gold and grass.

There is a term Trinavat Ganana—to treat like grass. That is the real value of these lowly people—like grass. You should ignore them, just like grass.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi