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Source: www.hinduwebsite.com
An essay on qualifications of a teacher good conduct by Jiddu Krishnamurthy
3. Tolerance
You must feel perfect tolerance for all, and a hearty interest in the beliefs of those of another religion, just as much as your own. For their religion is a path to the highest, just as yours is. And to help all, you must understand all. But in order to gain this perfect tolerance, you must yourself first be free from (bigotry) and (superstition.)
You must learn that no ceremonies are necessary; else you will think yourself somehow better than those who do not perform them. Yet you must not condemn others who still cling to ceremonies. Let them do as they will; only they must not interfere with you who know the truth - they must not try to force upon you that which you have outgrown. Make allowance for everything: be kindly towards everything. Now that your eyes are opened, some of your old beliefs, your old ceremonies, may seem to you absurd; perhaps, indeed, they really are so. Yet though you can no longer take part in them, respect them for the sake of those good souls to whom they are still important. They have their place, they have their use; they are like those double lines which guided you as a child to write straight and evenly, until you learnt to write far better and freely without them. There was a time when you needed them; but now that time is past.A great Teacher once wrote: 'When I was a child I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things.' Yet he who has forgotten his childhood and lost sympathy with the children is not the man who can teach them or help them. So look kindly, gently, tolerantly upon all; but upon all alike, Buddhist or Hindu, Jain or Jew, Christian or Muhammedan.
http://www.hinduwebsite.com/divinelife/guru/jk/jkgoodconduct.asp#3
You must feel perfect tolerance for all, and a hearty interest in the beliefs of those of another religion, just as much as your own. For their religion is a path to the highest, just as yours is. And to help all, you must understand all. But in order to gain this perfect tolerance, you must yourself first be free from (bigotry) and (superstition.)
You must learn that no ceremonies are necessary; else you will think yourself somehow better than those who do not perform them. Yet you must not condemn others who still cling to ceremonies. Let them do as they will; only they must not interfere with you who know the truth - they must not try to force upon you that which you have outgrown. Make allowance for everything: be kindly towards everything. Now that your eyes are opened, some of your old beliefs, your old ceremonies, may seem to you absurd; perhaps, indeed, they really are so. Yet though you can no longer take part in them, respect them for the sake of those good souls to whom they are still important. They have their place, they have their use; they are like those double lines which guided you as a child to write straight and evenly, until you learnt to write far better and freely without them. There was a time when you needed them; but now that time is past.A great Teacher once wrote: 'When I was a child I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things.' Yet he who has forgotten his childhood and lost sympathy with the children is not the man who can teach them or help them. So look kindly, gently, tolerantly upon all; but upon all alike, Buddhist or Hindu, Jain or Jew, Christian or Muhammedan.
http://www.hinduwebsite.com/divinelife/guru/jk/jkgoodconduct.asp#3
