Family Discord

Question:

Master,

When we are in disagreement, we tend to get into arguments. How can we maintain harmony in our family when everyone insists on being right?
​
AV

Answer:

Like many newlyweds, people usually go through a trying period when they first co-habit. Things tend not to be as pleasant as during courtship.

We have a most insightful discussion about this topic during our morning Dharma Talk dated 1/15/12 during which many of students shared their personal experience and talked about how they managed to make their marriage work. Please listen to it to get more details.

For the sake of our reader, I’ll provide two salient points:

1. When two people have strong beliefs and opinions, the only way to resolve it for one person to yield. Are you willing to yield to her even though you know that she is wrong? If you truly love her, then you must resolve to take a loss and yield when she is wrong. One must also learn to love when the other person is wrong.
2. Yielding is to “repay our karmic debts”. The more quickly you pay up, the quicker you’ll have harmony in the family.