It is completely impossible to please all sentient beings. It is a fruitless endeavour because everybody has different ideas and different ways of doing things. Often sentient beings do not even know what they want. They change their minds all the time. Rather than trying to please them, it is better that we focus on having a kind motivation, an attitude of love and compassion, and acting from a grounded place within ourselves. How they respond, we cannot control. 

Similarly, it is impossible for all sentient beings to please us and do what we want them to do, to think what we want them to think. Here too, we should accept that people have different ways of thinking, different dispositions, and different ways of doing things. Not everybody is going to do what we want them to do. Not everybody is going to make us happy. If we can accept this, it does not need to become a cause of suffering. 

When we do not accept the diversity of sentient beings and their differences, coupled with the fact that our minds are clouded with confusion, we have many false expectations of wanting to please them and wanting them to please us. If we can accept diversity, there is no suffering involved. We just know this is how it is, and that is okay. We can act with love and compassion and that makes our mind peaceful, and it makes our relationships with other beings harmonious to the extent possible within samsara. 

“365 Gems of Wisdom” e-book is out now!