A person approached a saint and said, “O great soul, please tell me about the path to liberation.”

The saint replied, “Go to the cemetery and give abuses to each and every grave and come.”

The person did as he was instructed.

The next day when he returned, the saint told him, “Now go back to the cemetery and say words of praises on each and every grave.”

The person again did as he was instructed.

Then the saint asked the person, “Did anyone in the cemetery say anything in reply to your abuses or praises?”

“No one said anything, o great soul!”

Then the saint said, “When you get affected by pairs of opposites such as, praise and abuse or criticism, honor and dishonor, etc. then you are bound by that which affects you. It is the same with anger. The one who angers you controls you. 

“Your body is also subject to death. It is programmed to self-destruct. It is continuously modifying itself towards its ultimate goal of death. You are neither matter nor energy. You are Pure Blissful Awareness — unborn and eternal, therefore beyond the cycle of birth and death; beyond the modifications and limitations of body, sense organs, mind and the intellect. You, the Pure Self, are untouched and unaffected by anything.

“Therefore, live in this world by being untouched and unaffected by honor and dishonor, respect and insult, praise and abuse, as the lotus lives in the pond untouched by the water or the dirt around it. Have equanimity in all situations and circumstances. This is the path to liberation.”