Kindness Gets Taken, Boundaries Get Hated, Krishna on Human Nature
Riya Kumari | Sep 24, 2025, 05:01 IST
Gita
( Image credit : AI )
In a world where kindness often feels like a currency spent without return, and setting boundaries is met with resistance, the teachings of Lord Krishna offer profound insights into the complexities of human nature. Drawing from the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, and the Puranas, we explore how Krishna's wisdom illuminates the delicate balance between compassion and self-preservation.
You’ve been kind. Really kind. You’ve given your time, your energy, your love, your trust and yet, somewhere along the way, someone took it for granted. Or worse, they resented you for finally saying, enough. There’s a quiet cruelty in human nature: people love what you give them but despise the walls you build around yourself. The poet in me, broken and hollow, has seen this over and over. And yet, in the ruins of disappointment, I’ve found the voice of Krishna whispering timeless truths. Human nature is complicated, often contradictory, but it is not unknowable. The Bhagavad Gita, one of the most profound guides to living, says it plainly: “He who is free from malice towards others, who is friendly and compassionate, who is free from possessiveness and ego, is dear to all beings.” (Gita 12.13) Notice, Krishna does not promise that the world will be kind in return. He only asks that we cultivate clarity within ourselves. Kindness is a reflection of your own heart, not a contract with others.
We live in a world that hates limits. Tell someone you cannot meet their demand, or that your energy is finite, and suddenly your kindness is questioned. But Krishna, in his infinite wisdom, teaches that recognizing your own limits is not weakness, it is dharma. In Chapter 3, Verse 35, he says, “It is better to perform your own duties imperfectly than to perform another’s perfectly.” Boundaries are not walls against love, they are declarations of self-respect, markers of where your responsibility begins and ends.
When you set boundaries, expect resistance. People will resist your refusal because they want your energy without your limits. They may misread your self-respect as arrogance. This is human nature. Krishna does not ask us to bend under misunderstanding; he asks us to act with discernment and integrity, balancing compassion with wisdom.
Here is the poet’s truth, and the philosopher’s: kindness without understanding is a wound waiting to happen. Compassion, to be pure, must be coupled with awareness. Krishna teaches equanimity, a mind that is steady in both gain and loss, in praise and insult, in love and betrayal. This is the kind of wisdom that allows you to give without becoming empty, to care without becoming dependent, to love without being consumed.
The world will test this. People will take your patience as permission, your love as weakness, your silence as ignorance. But the one who understands Krishna’s teachings knows that life is a mirror: the treatment you receive is a reflection of the energies you carry, not the sum of your value. Compassion is not naive. It is a conscious choice. And boundaries are not cruel. They are an act of self-preservation, ensuring that your ability to give does not die in the process.
If there is one lesson the poet in me learned from Krishna, it is this: live in kindness, but live consciously. Let your heart expand without fear, but let your mind define the edges of what you will allow. Learn to give without expectation, to forgive without forgetting, and to love without losing yourself.
We are not here to fix the world; we are here to navigate it. People will take, people will resist, people will misunderstand, but your inner compass, guided by discernment and dharma, will remain true. That is the beauty Krishna celebrates: a life lived fully, wisely, and with a heart that does not break in vain but breaks open into deeper understanding.
Takeaway
Kindness is sacred, boundaries are necessary, and human nature is beautifully flawed. Krishna does not ask for perfection, only for clarity. Give wisely, protect gently, and let your actions reflect both love and truth. In doing so, you live not for approval, but for the eternal rhythm of dharma.
The Burden of Boundaries
Boundaries
( Image credit : Unsplash )
We live in a world that hates limits. Tell someone you cannot meet their demand, or that your energy is finite, and suddenly your kindness is questioned. But Krishna, in his infinite wisdom, teaches that recognizing your own limits is not weakness, it is dharma. In Chapter 3, Verse 35, he says, “It is better to perform your own duties imperfectly than to perform another’s perfectly.” Boundaries are not walls against love, they are declarations of self-respect, markers of where your responsibility begins and ends.
When you set boundaries, expect resistance. People will resist your refusal because they want your energy without your limits. They may misread your self-respect as arrogance. This is human nature. Krishna does not ask us to bend under misunderstanding; he asks us to act with discernment and integrity, balancing compassion with wisdom.
Kindness Without Compromise
Self love
( Image credit : Unsplash )
Here is the poet’s truth, and the philosopher’s: kindness without understanding is a wound waiting to happen. Compassion, to be pure, must be coupled with awareness. Krishna teaches equanimity, a mind that is steady in both gain and loss, in praise and insult, in love and betrayal. This is the kind of wisdom that allows you to give without becoming empty, to care without becoming dependent, to love without being consumed.
The world will test this. People will take your patience as permission, your love as weakness, your silence as ignorance. But the one who understands Krishna’s teachings knows that life is a mirror: the treatment you receive is a reflection of the energies you carry, not the sum of your value. Compassion is not naive. It is a conscious choice. And boundaries are not cruel. They are an act of self-preservation, ensuring that your ability to give does not die in the process.
Lessons That Linger
Coffee
( Image credit : Unsplash )
If there is one lesson the poet in me learned from Krishna, it is this: live in kindness, but live consciously. Let your heart expand without fear, but let your mind define the edges of what you will allow. Learn to give without expectation, to forgive without forgetting, and to love without losing yourself.
We are not here to fix the world; we are here to navigate it. People will take, people will resist, people will misunderstand, but your inner compass, guided by discernment and dharma, will remain true. That is the beauty Krishna celebrates: a life lived fully, wisely, and with a heart that does not break in vain but breaks open into deeper understanding.