Essential Bhagavad Gita 3:34 (Swami Kriyananda)

Quoting from Chapter 15 of this text by Swami Kriyananda, there's a lot of good wisdom here - where he gives commentary on verse 3:34 -

(3:34) Attraction and repulsion (regarding) sense objects belong to the natural ebb and flow of duality. Beware equally of them both, for they are man's greatest enemies!

Attraction and repulsion are extreme forms of likes and dislikes. To like anything excessively is as great an error, virtually by definition, as to dislike its opposite. The realization of God depends on neutralizing all one's reactions, leveling out their peaks and their valleys, and seeing the one, changeless Spirit at the heart of everything.

The secret is not to cease from enjoying anything -- a "solution" which leads only to apathy, and consequently, to a deadened awareness. The secret, rather, is to center every enjoyment in the heart: to feel that its cause lies there, in your reactions; and then to draw that energy consciously upward in the spine, from the heart to the brain.

Ordinary likes and dislikes are not man's enemies, as such. Rather, they are like troublesome neighbors. Extreme forms of these emotions, however -- any strong attraction or violent repulsion -- can plunge one into violent storms of emotion that toss him helplessly about on great waves of delusion. Never let yourself become infatuated (infatuation is extreme attraction) with anything or anyone. Never let yourself hate anything or anyone. Develop an attitude, rather, of accepting the cosmic dream as it is, even when it becomes a nightmare! Your only hope is to escape to a higher level of consciousness.

Some people do have ugly traits. Don't waste energy in reacting to them, neither by dislike nor by abhorrence. Don't welcome them into your "galaxy" of interests. Move through life, rather, like a swan off whose back the rain flows lightly, never touching its body.

Protect your heart's feelings from the excitement of all extreme reactions. Surround those feelings with emanations of peace and good will. Relax in the heart. Relax also outward from the heart, to the shoulders. Then direct the heart's energy upward through the spine to the brain. When there are people around you, for instance, shouting angrily -- and especially when they shout at you personally -- relax inwardly; be centered in the Self; smile in your heart, and remind yourself, "I love God alone!"