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After a space of nearly twenty minutes, he spoke. His words came from a feeling of compassion and understanding. Without anger or criticism, he explained, “For all these miles we have been enjoying each other's company. We've just been chatting together and exchanging ideas. Now you refuse to talk to me any more. You want me to move out of your sight - all of this turnabout in your attitude simply because I say that I belong to a certain group. Does a label make a man? Where is your feeling for life? Where did your previous feeling of friendship and generosity towards me go?'
The man was in a difficult position. If he answered Rup's questions, he would be inconsistent with his refusal to speak to him again. But, in keeping silence, he could not defend his position. He remained in a frustration, struggling with his thoughts. He became flushed and restless. One part of him wanted to forget the differences he believed to exist between them. Another part remained suffocated by his lifetime habit of categorizing people by labels. How could he drop those concepts which his religious background had planted so deeply in his mind and which had been upheld by the caste system in India for nearly three thousand years?
Rup eased the man's discomfort. "Sir, really I beg your pardon. I am a student on my way to an ashram to study and practice meditation. I am a Jain by birth. My father is a very pious man with high moral standards."
Once again, the man changed his whole approach. “What? Your father is a pious Jain and you are really a college student? Well, that is different.” He continued the conversation, “But tell me, why did you not tell me the truth the first time?"
Rup answered, "I wanted you to see that I am the same person regardless of whether or not I carry the label of Brahmin or Jain or Harijan or any other category. Why should we allow small concepts and sectarian beliefs to limit us? They are only boxes, adjectives, they have no bearing on who we really are. Now that I have used a different adjective to introduce myself, this time an acceptable one, your whole attitude has changed again. Now I want to know, will you be my friend regardless of the outer description? If you are really the reli
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