5. Conquering Anger - 1

It is only tolerance which can help us to conquer anger. Let us consider an incident. It occurred during the time of Sri Sacchidananda Shivabhinava Nrisimha Bharati Mahaswamiji, the 33rd Acharya of Sri Sringeri Sharada Peetham. He was camping in a place, when an officer of the forest department came for darshan. Acharyal was not in the habit of dismissing people after just enquiring about their welfare. To ascertain whether the officer had any inclination to know the highest Truth, He asked, “Do you ever become angry?” The officer replied that he occasionally lost his temper.

Acharyal : What do you do when you are angry?

Officer : I take it out on my subordinate.

A: If that be the case, what does he do?

O: He vents his ire on his assistant.

A: Do you see how one man’s anger gives trouble to many?

The officer admitted his fault and sought a remedy. Acharyal said, “There are three types of people. Some foresee that they are going to get angry. Some, who are unable to foresee anger, are able to realise after the onset of wrath that they are angry. Some others recognise their anger only in retrospect, after the damage has been done. Amongst these categories of people, to which one do you belong?” The officer replied that though he did not belong to the first, he was a member of the second set of people. Acharyal advised him to join the first group, by thinking even before the onset of anger, “Is it fair on my part to give room to wrath?” Such an analysis would forestall anger. The concerned officer paid his obeisance to the Guru and left for his place where he was camping. It was midday by the time he reached and he felt very hungry. Unfortunately for him, his cook had prepared only two rotis. He was about to lose his temper. However, he immediately recalled

Acharyal’s advice. He called his servant and asked the reason for his making only two rotis. The servant replied that the person who had left to fetch provisions had not returned yet. The servant had wanted to appease the hunger of his officer by preparing two rotis with the available flour. For his part, the servant did not eat anything and was prepared to remain hungry till the provisions arrived. The officer praised his servant as generous. He felt that he had been saved by the advice he had received, from the sin of getting angry at his innocent servant. ❃❃❃❃