If you can’t ‘hit’ back at them with the arrow of humour, then simply give them a soft smile. Why waste precious thinking power over frivolous issues by giving them undue importance?

Your peace of mind, happiness and gaiety - you waste all these precious assets by giving importance to silly issues. Even when you are confronted with sarcastic remarks, keep your cool and take it easy. It is easier said than done.

Surely, mere efforts at behavioural level to change your attitude are not enough. In Thailand, a statue of the Buddha was being transported from one temple to another. There was a heavy downpour. Devotees tried to cover the statue with umbrellas and leaves of coconut tree. But the giant statue got drenched and the mud-covering of the statue began to wash away.

To everyone’s surprise, what was revealed was a sparkling, golden statue of Buddha beneath. Years ago, this earth-covering was deliberately created to detract thieves. Devotees, who were unaware of this fact, took it to be a mud-statue and worshipped it.

So you get carried away by the trials of day-to-day living. You feel sorry and agitated. Suppose you have a bicycle and you use it for your daily commute. Now, if somebody dashes his vehicle against your cycle and creates a dent, you become agitated and angry.

Let’s say you have a beautiful car. You use it for your routine trips. Along with the car, you have a cycle too, but you don’t use it much.

Now, if someone hits that and creates a dent, will you get angry and react the way you did earlier? Perhaps not. You won’t take it so seriously. Precisely because you now use a vehicle that’s much superior to the cycle.

Be it the sarcasm of your friends or real-life situations, these are just like the ‘dents’ inflicted on your personality. Moreover, these dents affect only the outer layers of your personality - your body, mind or brain.

Since you always ride on these lower levels only, even the slightest of dents at these levels hurt you, and you are highly agitated.

But once you learn to travel on your ‘precious’ Real Self, small dents, the trifling happenings in life will not cause any agitation. They will not influence you. You will maintain your equipoise in all situations.

However, to remain established in that eternal seat, you need to realise “the golden Buddha” - the hidden treasure within you. When you ‘Know yourself’, you value it more than the outer layers. The brilliant golden light within will engulf your personality.

That is the real you. For this to happen, allow yourself to be drenched by the blissful and gentle rain of Brahm Gyan or Self-realisation.